Ammon News - In a carefully worded announcement on Monday, Apple said John Giannandrea, who has been the company’s AI chief since 2018, is “stepping down” to, well, not work at Apple anymore. He’ll stick around through spring as an adviser.

His replacement is Amar Subramanya, a highly regarded Microsoft executive who spent 16 years at Google, most recently leading engineering for the Gemini Assistant. It’s a savvy hire, given that Subramanya knows the competition intimately.

The move is being characterized as a shake-up. It was seemingly inevitable in retrospect. Apple Intelligence, the company’s answer to the ChatGPT moment, has been stumbling since its October 2024 launch. Reviews have ranged from “underwhelming” to outright alarmed.

Giannandrea came to Apple from Google, where he ran Machine Intelligence and Search. At Apple, he oversaw the AI strategy, machine learning infrastructure, and Siri development.

Now Subramanya inherits those responsibilities, reporting to Federighi with a clear mandate to help Apple catch up in AI.

TechCrunch