Apple AI chief stepping down, company says

Apple’s AI chief is stepping down, the company announced Monday in the most visible shake up yet to the iPhone maker’s artificial intelligence group since launching its Apple Intelligence suite in 2024.

John Giannandrea, who held the position since joining the company in 2018, will be replaced by Amar Subramanya, an AI researcher who most recently worked for Microsoft and previously was part of Google’s DeepMind AI unit, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Apple’s change in AI leadership comes as experts this year have said that the iPhone maker has fallen behind its tech peers in artificial intelligence, which has been reinvigorated since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022.

Apple Intelligence, which was intended to put Apple alongside AI leaders like OpenAI and Google, has not been well-reviewed by users and critics. Earlier this year, one of its most critical aspects, a significantly improved Siri assistant, was delayed until 2026, signaling development challenges.

Subramanya will be Apple’s vice president of AI, the company said, and will report to software chief Craig Federighi. Giannandrea, who joined Apple in 2018, was a senior vice president and reported to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple said Giannandrea would remain as an advisor until next spring.

In a statement, Cook said that Federighi already played a key role in Apple’s AI efforts. Federighi is Apple’s top software executive.

“In addition to growing his leadership team and AI responsibilities with Amar’s joining, Craig has been instrumental in driving our AI efforts, including overseeing our work to bring a more personalized Siri to users next year,” Cook said in a statement.

Subramanya will lead teams at Apple working on the company’s foundation models, research, and AI safety, the company said.

Apple shares, which are up 16% in 2025 so far, have lagged many other big technology companies as investors have perceived Apple as falling behind companies that are investing billions in AI chips and frontier model chatbots.

Apple said in August that it was “significantly increasing” the amount it spends on AI, and Cook has said it’s a “profound” technology. Apple has struck a deal with leader OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into some of its products, like Siri.

But Apple is playing a different game than companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta. It’s spending much less on infrastructure for the technology. Apple also prefers its AI to run on its devices, instead of communicating back to more powerful computers in the cloud.