Apple hires Google veteran as its new vp of AI

Apple has tapped AI researcher Amar Subramanya, a longtime Google exec who was most just lately company vp of AI at Microsoft, as its new VP of AI. The corporate also announced that present AI exec, John Giannandrea, will retire in 2026.

Subramanya, who Apple describes as a “famend AI researcher,” spent 16 years at Google, the place he was head of engineering for Gemini. He left Google earlier this yr for Microsoft. In a press launch, Apple stated that Subramanya will report back to Craig Federighi and can “be main important areas, together with Apple Basis Fashions, ML analysis, and AI Security and Analysis.”

It isn’t totally shocking that Apple is shaking up its AI management. Giannandrea joined Apple in 2018 after a stint at Google that included VP of search. Whereas his hiring was seen as a serious coup for Apple on the time, the corporate has confronted some vital setbacks since. Most notably, its failure to ship a extra personalised, AI-centric model of Siri that it previewed final yr. Giannandrea, who oversaw Siri for years, has shouldered a lot of the blame for the delays. Bloomberg reported earlier this yr that Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner had “misplaced confidence within the capability of AI head John Giannandrea to execute on product growth” and put different executives accountable for Siri as a substitute.

In a press release, Cook dinner stated he was “grateful” for Giannandrea’s contributions to the corporate and credited Federighi with pushing the revamped Siri ahead. “Along with rising his management staff and AI tasks with Amar’s becoming a member of, Craig has been instrumental in driving our AI efforts, together with overseeing our work to convey a extra personalised Siri to customers subsequent yr.”