Why Apple Intelligence Failed and Forced a Leadership Change
- John Giannandrea has stepped down as Apple’s AI chief and is being replaced by former Google and Microsoft executive Amar Subramanya.
- The leadership change follows the disastrous launch of Apple Intelligence and the indefinite delay of the new Siri overhaul.
- Apple is reportedly turning to Google’s Gemini model to power future features while facing lawsuits from disappointed iPhone 16 customers
Apple has finally admitted that its current artificial intelligence strategy is not working. The tech giant announced a major leadership shakeup on Monday that effectively hits the reset button on its struggling AI division. John Giannandrea is stepping down from his role as AI chief after a tumultuous tenure that saw the company fall significantly behind its competitors. He will remain as an advisor through the spring before leaving the company entirely.
His replacement sends a very clear signal about where Apple is heading next. Amar Subramanya is taking the reins after a long career at Microsoft and Google. He most recently led engineering for the Gemini Assistant and knows the competition intimately. This hire suggests that Apple is done trying to build everything in isolation and is now willing to bring in outside DNA to fix its internal mess. Subramanya will report directly to software chief Craig Federighi with a mandate to catch up fast.
The timing of this move was inevitable in retrospect. Apple Intelligence was supposed to be the company's answer to the ChatGPT moment but the launch in late 2024 was a disaster. Reviews ranged from underwhelming to alarmed. The notification summary feature was particularly embarrassing for the brand. It generated false headlines and misreported serious news events involving high profile criminal cases. It even hallucinated sports victories that never happened.
Matters got worse when it came to the promised overhaul of Siri. A Bloomberg investigation revealed that Federighi tested the new voice assistant on his personal device just weeks before its planned April launch and found it broken. The company had to delay the release indefinitely. This failure sparked class action lawsuits from iPhone 16 buyers who felt cheated after purchasing hardware based on AI promises that did not materialize.
Internal reports paint a picture of deep dysfunction within the AI group under Giannandrea. Tim Cook had already stripped him of control over Siri and the robotics division earlier in the year. Morale plummeted so low that employees began mocking the division as rudderless. Talented researchers fled the ship for OpenAI and Meta while buget misalignments and poor communication crippled progress.
The ultimate indignity for the iPhone maker is its newfound reliance on its arch rival. Reports indicate that the next version of Siri will likely lean on Google Gemini for backend processing. This partnership highlights just how far Apple has fallen behind in the infrastructure war. It is a humbling twist for a company that has spent fifteen years fighting Google across maps and mobile software.
Subramanya now faces the difficult task of balancing Apple’s privacy values with market realities. Apple has focused on running AI directly on user devices to protect data. This approach avoids the privacy risks of cloud computing but limits raw power. Local chips cannot match the massive server farms used by competitors. The new chief must figure out if Apple can actually compete without compromising the privacy first philosophy that defines the brand.