Apple’s head of Artificial Intelligence, John Giannandrea, has announced that he will be leaving the company after running the team since 2018.
And Apple hasn’t wasted any time finding his replacement. Amar Subramanya, a Microsoft executive who spent 16 years at Google, will be taking over the important position.
Subramanya is expected to shake up the team, which has struggled to find its footing over the past couple of years as rivals like OpenAI and Google surged ahead in the AI arms race.
What does this mean for Apple’s AI?
This change is being phrased as a shake-up for Apple. In the rapidly evolving world of AI, the iPhone maker has struggled to keep up with its competitors.
Compared to the likes of OpenAI, Google and Microsoft, Apple has fallen far behind in its AI innovation. Apple Intelligence, the company’s own brand of AI built into its devices, hasn’t had the success the company would have hoped for.
Apple Intelligence first rolled out to Apple devices in October 2024. Since then, Apple has brought out regular updates, including real-time translation and AI-generated emojis.
However, these new features have always felt a bit lacking compared to the developments from competitors.
In fact, a Bloomberg investigation back in May showed the problems ran deeper than they seemed. Speaking to insiders, Bloomberg revealed that iPhone launches had been delayed due to incorrect claims from the AI team and that Giannandrea had actually been sidelined a while ago within the company.
With Apple Intelligence no nearer to the competition, Apple has gone as far as to look to its competitor for help. Currently, it is nearing a $1 billion-a-year contract with Google to use Gemini for Siri.
The future of Apple Intelligence
This is where Amar Subramanya comes in. The new head of Apple’s AI team has had long tenures at Google and Microsoft — two of the world’s most successful AI tech companies.
Apple won’t want to simply use Google’s AI services forever. Not just because $1 billion a year is too much money to pay to a competitor, but because it wouldn’t be a great look for Apple to not have its own AI service.
Hopefully, this will be a turning point for Apple Intelligence, and iOS users could soon see a capable AI system on their devices.
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