John Giannandrea, Apple's longtime head of artificial intelligence, is leaving the company this week. His departure marks the end of an era defined by the disappointing launch of Apple Intelligence and the Siri delays.
The departure isn't unexpected, but it has been a long time coming. Back in March 2025, Apple had already drastically reduced Giannandrea's role after the launch of Apple Intelligence fell short of expectations and the promised Siri overhaul was repeatedly postponed. At the end of 2025, Apple officially announced Giannandrea's departure, stating that he would retire in 2026. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, his last day at work is this week – coinciding with the next vesting date for his stock options on April 15.
Giannandrea joined Apple from Google in 2018 and took over responsibility for Apple's entire AI and machine learning strategy, including Siri, robotics, and the company's in-house Foundation Models. Eight years later, the results are mixed: Under his leadership, Apple invested heavily in on-device AI and private cloud computing, but the visible results for end users—especially with Siri—have lagged far behind those of the competition.
What comes after John Giannandrea
Giannandrea's remaining responsibilities have already been distributed among several people. Software chief Craig Federighi, services chief Eddy Cue, and chief operating officer Sabih Khan share the areas of Foundation Models, AI testing, and other functions. There is no direct replacement for the AI chief role; instead, Apple is integrating AI responsibility more deeply into its existing leadership structure.
According to Gurman, Giannandrea himself has no plans to move to another large technology company. Instead, he will focus on supervisory board positions and consulting work for startups.
Why it didn't work
Gurman offers a remarkable perspective in his newsletter. He contradicts the widespread assumption that Tim Cook generally has a problem with external executives. The real issue, he argues, is structural: Apple's leadership functions like a small family business with few decision-makers. Anyone not part of the inner circle—which is virtually impossible—simply lacks the influence to implement genuine change.
For Apple Intelligence and Siri, this means: The technology was there, but the organizational clout was lacking. Whether the new division of responsibilities between Federighi, Cue, and Khan works better will become clear at the latest at WWDC in June, when Apple is expected to present the next generation of Apple Intelligence and the long-awaited Siri overhaul.
What this means for Apple users
For users, nothing will change in the short term. The products Giannandrea worked on—Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Compute—will remain and continue to be developed. In the long term, however, the restructuring could help to integrate AI features into Apple products more quickly and consistently, because the responsibility now lies with executives who already manage the respective platforms. (Image: Shutterstock / PixieMe)
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