Apple has announced that, after leaving his position as Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and Strategy artificial intelligence (AI) at Apple, John Giannandrea will take over as vice president of AI from Amar Subramanya, who will lead areas such as Apple’s Foundational Models and Machine Learning (ML) research to advance this technology, amid the challenges for Apple Intelligence.
The technology company has announced the end of Giannandrea’s time as the company’s AI director, who will play an advisory role at Apple before his scheduled retirement in the spring of next year 2026.
Thus, since joining the Cupertino team in 2018, Apple has highlighted Giannandrea’s role in the company’s AI and machine learning strategy, which they have defined as “key”, promoting the creation of a “top-level” team and leading in the “development and implementation of critical AI technologies.”
Specifically, Giannandrea has been leading his team in the development of sectors such as Apple Founding Models, Search and Knowledge, and Machine Learning and AI Infrastructure Research, among other sectors.
Now, a new stage of AI innovation begins at Apple led by AI researcher, Amar Subramanya, who has joined as the company’s new vice president of AI, who will report directly to Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi.
/
As the technology company explained in a statement, Subramanya will be in charge of “critical areas”, such as Apple’s Foundational Models, Machine Learning (ML) research, and AI Security and Evaluation. The remaining sections that were led by Giannandrea will now be headed by Apple COO Sabih Khan and Senior Vice President of Apple Services Eddy Cue.
LOOK: Artificial intelligence and productivity in the Galaxy S25 FE: we test the capabilities of the new thing from Samsung
All in all, the iPhone manufacturer has stressed that the integration of Subramanya will provide extensive experience for Apple, as he comes with an extensive work career, after being corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft and, previously, having spent 16 years at Google directing the engineering of the Gemini Assistant before its release to the market.
That is, this is a new manager with extensive experience in AI and machine learning research, as well as in the integration of said research into products and functions, therefore, Apple hopes to take advantage of all that knowledge to drive innovation in future Apple Intelligence functions.
It must be taken into account that this management change is part of a complex moment for Apple, in terms of the AI market. This is because its AI features system, Apple Intelligence, has had a rocky start with features delayed in release and others showing bugs.
Added to this is the delay in the arrival of its renewed Siri assistant which, although it was presented alongside Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, has suffered difficulties because its AI-powered technology was not ready.
The new version of Siri is expected to be ready in spring 2026 with iOS 26.4, which will take advantage of Apple Intelligence’s AI to access users’ personal data and on-screen activities to better respond to their queries, among other new features.
With all this, Apple has detailed that AI has been fundamental in its strategy “for a long time” and, with the arrival of Subramanya, it hopes to continue advancing thanks to its experience in AI.
“With Giannandrea’s contributions as a foundation, Federighi’s expanded supervision, and Subramanya’s deep experience leading the next generation of AI technologies, Apple is poised to accelerate its work in delivering intelligent, trusted, and deeply personal experiences,” the technology company said, while underlining its commitment to “shaping the future of AI.”