According to The Verge, Apple’s AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down from his role after reported setbacks with the Siri assistant. Giannandrea, who joined Apple in 2018, will continue as an advisor before retiring in the spring of 2026. The move follows Apple’s admission in March that a more personalized Siri was “taking longer than we thought” to release. Bloomberg reported that CEO Tim Cook had “lost confidence” in Giannandrea, leading to Vision Pro leader Mike Rockwell taking charge of the AI team. Apple is now promoting SVP of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, Srinivasan Subramanya, to lead the effort, reporting to software chief Craig Federighi. The company expects to launch an upgraded Siri next spring, with Bloomberg suggesting some new features may be powered by a custom version of Google’s Gemini AI model.
What This Means for Apple
This is a pretty significant internal shakeup, and it highlights just how much pressure Apple is under in the AI race. Look, they’ve been playing catch-up for a while now, and the “Apple Intelligence” reveal was supposed to be their big comeback. But pushing back the smarter Siri and then having your AI chief step down? That’s not a great look. It signals that the integration of research into actual products—which Subramanya is supposedly good at—has been a real bottleneck. Basically, they can have all the smart papers in the world, but if they can’t ship features, it doesn’t matter. Now they’re betting on a new leader and, interestingly, possibly on Google’s tech to fill the gaps. That’s a huge admission.
The Stakeholder Impact
For users, the immediate impact is more waiting. The promise of a truly useful, context-aware Siri has been dangling for years. This delay and leadership turmoil don’t inspire confidence that the spring 2025 deadline is solid. For developers, a more capable Siri with deeper system integration could be a game-changer for building new types of apps. But this instability at the top creates uncertainty—what will the actual API landscape look like? And for the broader market, it reinforces the narrative that Apple is behind. They’re reportedly using Google’s Gemini as a crutch for some features. That’s a wild turn of events for a company that prides itself on vertical integration and control. It also puts a massive spotlight on Mike Rockwell and Subramanya. Can they deliver what Giannandrea couldn’t? The entire Apple Intelligence strategy might depend on it.
