Apple swaps one ex-Google AI chief for another
(2025/12/02)
- Reference: 1764694511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/12/02/apple_ai_chief/
- Source link:
Apple's failure to deliver advanced AI capabilities has triggered a changing of the guard. AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down in favor of a new leader to steady the Siri ship.
Giannandrea, who [1]joined Apple in 2018 from a role as Google's SVP of search and AI, is being replaced by another former Google AI boffin, lately Microsoft's corporate vice president of AI, Amar Subramanya, Cupertino [2]said in a press release Monday. Giannandrea is leaving his role effective immediately, but will stay on at Apple as an advisor until he retires next spring.
Subramanya is coming on board as Apple's VP of AI and will report directly to Apple's SVP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, where he'll be taking the lead on Apple foundation models, machine learning research, and AI safety and evaluation. Those are all responsibilities that Giannandrea also had, with the exception of AI infrastructure and search and knowledge responsibilities, which Apple said will be shifted to Apple COO Sabih Khan and SVP of services Eddy Cue "to align closer with similar organizations."
[3]
Subramanya spent 16 years at Google, several of those overlapping with Giannandrea's tenure at the company, and recently served as the head of engineering for Gemini before departing – just [4]four months ago – for Microsoft.
[5]
[6]
"We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work, helping Apple continue to innovate and enrich the lives of our users," Apple CEO Tim Cook said of the ex-AI chief's tenure before describing how much the new leadership team would change things, hopefully for the better. Cook also noted that the AI leadership shuffle means Federighi was taking on more responsibility for the future of Apple's AI efforts, "including overseeing our work to bring a more personalized Siri to users next year."
Apple further noted that Giannandrea's contributions to largely stalled AI projects would contribute "as a foundation" to the work that Subramanya and Federighi would be doing to "guide the next generation of AI technologies."
[7]
For those who haven't been paying close attention to Apple's attempts to incorporate AI into its products, it hasn't gone well.
[8]Apple goes all in on AI acceleration with M5 MacBook, iPad, and Vision Pros
[9]Apple exec sends Google shares plunging as he calls AI the new search
[10]Apple's lousy AI didn't stop it beating Samsung's smartphone sales for the first time since 2011
[11]Apple Intelligence turned on by default in upcoming macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3
The company has largely been seen as a laggard in the AI race, which stands in contrast to the prior perception of Apple as a company that would wait for others to go first before learning from their failures and launching a superior product.
The company [12]announced plans for a new generation of Siri AI features at last year's Worldwide Developer Conference, but those plans fizzled out entirely, leading the company to push back its Siri overhaul and the broader launch of " [13]Apple Intelligence " features until 2026. The company has been [14]accused in court of lying about Siri's AI capabilities due to the delay, suggesting that the mystique around Apple's wait-and-beat strategy has been shattered by its failure to compete in the AI space.
Analyst [15]reaction to Giannandrea's departure has largely been in line with the take that it's a tacit admission of Apple's failure.
Writing on LinkedIn, STL Partners research director Marina Koytcheva said the move means Apple knows it's lost the AI race, and the hiring of Subramanya means the company is looking to competitors who are AI leaders (Microsoft and Google) to pick up the pieces.
[16]
"Customer loyalty is a great asset, and Apple has an abundance of it, but even that is not infinite, and users will want to right experience – or else," Koytcheva said. "It has happened before in this industry; it can happen again."
Not to put too much pressure on Apple's new AI leadership stack, but Subramanya and Federighi have a big task ahead of them. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/04/07/ai_roundup/
[2] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/12/john-giannandrea-to-retire-from-apple/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7353453746091081729/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/15/apple_goes_all_in_on/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/07/google_apple_cue/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/counterpoint_smartphone_market_predictions/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/apple_intelligence_enabled/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/10/apple_ai_wwdc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/10/apple_ai_wwdc/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/21/apple_hallucinated_siri_ai_features/
[15] https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/apples-new-ai-chief-7288569/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Giannandrea, who [1]joined Apple in 2018 from a role as Google's SVP of search and AI, is being replaced by another former Google AI boffin, lately Microsoft's corporate vice president of AI, Amar Subramanya, Cupertino [2]said in a press release Monday. Giannandrea is leaving his role effective immediately, but will stay on at Apple as an advisor until he retires next spring.
Subramanya is coming on board as Apple's VP of AI and will report directly to Apple's SVP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, where he'll be taking the lead on Apple foundation models, machine learning research, and AI safety and evaluation. Those are all responsibilities that Giannandrea also had, with the exception of AI infrastructure and search and knowledge responsibilities, which Apple said will be shifted to Apple COO Sabih Khan and SVP of services Eddy Cue "to align closer with similar organizations."
[3]
Subramanya spent 16 years at Google, several of those overlapping with Giannandrea's tenure at the company, and recently served as the head of engineering for Gemini before departing – just [4]four months ago – for Microsoft.
[5]
[6]
"We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work, helping Apple continue to innovate and enrich the lives of our users," Apple CEO Tim Cook said of the ex-AI chief's tenure before describing how much the new leadership team would change things, hopefully for the better. Cook also noted that the AI leadership shuffle means Federighi was taking on more responsibility for the future of Apple's AI efforts, "including overseeing our work to bring a more personalized Siri to users next year."
Apple further noted that Giannandrea's contributions to largely stalled AI projects would contribute "as a foundation" to the work that Subramanya and Federighi would be doing to "guide the next generation of AI technologies."
[7]
For those who haven't been paying close attention to Apple's attempts to incorporate AI into its products, it hasn't gone well.
[8]Apple goes all in on AI acceleration with M5 MacBook, iPad, and Vision Pros
[9]Apple exec sends Google shares plunging as he calls AI the new search
[10]Apple's lousy AI didn't stop it beating Samsung's smartphone sales for the first time since 2011
[11]Apple Intelligence turned on by default in upcoming macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3
The company has largely been seen as a laggard in the AI race, which stands in contrast to the prior perception of Apple as a company that would wait for others to go first before learning from their failures and launching a superior product.
The company [12]announced plans for a new generation of Siri AI features at last year's Worldwide Developer Conference, but those plans fizzled out entirely, leading the company to push back its Siri overhaul and the broader launch of " [13]Apple Intelligence " features until 2026. The company has been [14]accused in court of lying about Siri's AI capabilities due to the delay, suggesting that the mystique around Apple's wait-and-beat strategy has been shattered by its failure to compete in the AI space.
Analyst [15]reaction to Giannandrea's departure has largely been in line with the take that it's a tacit admission of Apple's failure.
Writing on LinkedIn, STL Partners research director Marina Koytcheva said the move means Apple knows it's lost the AI race, and the hiring of Subramanya means the company is looking to competitors who are AI leaders (Microsoft and Google) to pick up the pieces.
[16]
"Customer loyalty is a great asset, and Apple has an abundance of it, but even that is not infinite, and users will want to right experience – or else," Koytcheva said. "It has happened before in this industry; it can happen again."
Not to put too much pressure on Apple's new AI leadership stack, but Subramanya and Federighi have a big task ahead of them. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/04/07/ai_roundup/
[2] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/12/john-giannandrea-to-retire-from-apple/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7353453746091081729/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/15/apple_goes_all_in_on/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/07/google_apple_cue/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/counterpoint_smartphone_market_predictions/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/apple_intelligence_enabled/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/10/apple_ai_wwdc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/10/apple_ai_wwdc/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/21/apple_hallucinated_siri_ai_features/
[15] https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/apples-new-ai-chief-7288569/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aS8bKucxF-Ib_QRZ5RbSEgAAANQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/