Apple has confirmed that John Giannandrea, the company’s senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, is leaving the organization after seven years. The departure comes during a period of internal restructuring in Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts, particularly as the company works to deliver substantial improvements to its Siri digital assistant and the broader Apple Intelligence platform.
Taking over key responsibilities previously held by Giannandrea is Amar Subramanya, a veteran AI researcher who has been appointed vice president of Artificial Intelligence. Subramanya, who most recently contributed to AI development at Google and previously held significant roles at Microsoft, will report directly to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. The move expands Federighi’s oversight of the company’s AI initiatives, placing both foundational model development and applied AI features under his leadership.
Giannandrea joined Apple in 2018 after a high-profile hire from Google, where he had led major machine learning initiatives. At the time, his arrival was widely viewed as a strategic victory for Apple in the intensifying competition for top AI talent. He was rapidly promoted to the company’s executive team and reported directly to CEO Tim Cook, reflecting the importance placed on accelerating Apple’s capabilities in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Despite early momentum, progress on transforming Siri into a more capable and competitive assistant has been slower than anticipated. Apple introduced Siri in 2011 as the first mainstream digital assistant, yet in recent years the feature has fallen behind rivals in natural language understanding, contextual awareness, and integration with third-party services. The limited advancements became particularly visible following the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence—a suite of on-device and cloud-based AI features—but deferred the release of a significantly enhanced Siri until 2025 or later.
In March 2025, Apple reassigned responsibility for Siri development away from Giannandrea’s organization after the team was unable to meet internal deadlines for integrating next-generation language models into the assistant. Leadership of the Siri group subsequently shifted to Mike Rockwell, known for spearheading the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. Giannandrea remained in charge of developing Apple’s foundational large language models and underlying AI infrastructure until the current transition.
With Subramanya’s appointment, the foundational model work now transfers to the new vice president, while remaining elements of Giannandrea’s former organization are being redistributed within the company. The restructuring consolidates Apple’s AI efforts under Federighi, who already oversees iOS, macOS, and the software platforms where Apple Intelligence features are deployed.
The leadership changes occur as Apple continues aggressive investment in artificial intelligence, both through in-house development and strategic partnerships. The company has emphasized on-device processing for privacy-sensitive AI tasks and has positioned trustworthiness and user control as core principles differentiating its approach from competitors.
Apple described the transition as the beginning of a new phase in its AI strategy, one built on prior foundational work and strengthened by additional expertise and unified leadership. The company stated its intention to accelerate delivery of advanced intelligent experiences across its product lineup in the coming years.
Neither Apple nor Giannandrea has publicly disclosed his next destination or the specific reasons for his departure beyond the conclusion of his tenure. The executive changes take effect immediately.
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