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Apple Names Amar Subramanya VP of AI as John Giannandrea Steps Down

The shake-up follows delays to Apple's Siri overhaul under mounting competitive pressure.

Overview

  • Apple said John Giannandrea is leaving his role immediately and will serve as an advisor before retiring in spring 2026.
  • Amar Subramanya, a longtime Google executive who most recently led AI at Microsoft, joins as vice president of AI reporting to Craig Federighi.
  • Subramanya will lead Apple Foundation Models, machine-learning research, and AI Safety and Evaluation as Apple consolidates AI work under Federighi.
  • Parts of Giannandrea’s former organization shift to COO Sabih Khan and Services chief Eddy Cue, while Siri continues to be led by Mike Rockwell under Federighi.
  • Apple is still targeting spring 2026 for a more personalized Siri, and news reports say the company is nearing deals to integrate external models such as Google’s Gemini, along with Perplexity and Anthropic.