CALIFORNIA: Apple’s artificial intelligence era is getting a new cast. John Giannandrea, the company’s head of AI and machine learning, is expected to leave around April 15, when stock options tied to his original employment agreement vest. The exit ends an eight-year stint that reshaped Apple’s approach to AI, even if the final chapter proved rather quieter than the opening one.
Giannandrea joined Apple in 2018 from Google, where he had led search and AI, brought in to bolster Apple’s machine learning capabilities at a time when rivals were pulling ahead. For several years he sat at the centre of Apple’s AI ambitions. Then, gradually, he did not.
The unravelling of his brief was methodical. In March 2025, control of Siri was reassigned to Mike Rockwell, who reports to software chief Craig Federighi. Other areas that had fallen under Giannandrea’s remit, including AI models and testing, were redistributed among senior executives Federighi, Eddy Cue, and Sabih Khan. By late 2025, Giannandrea had moved into a limited advisory role, with little clarity on what, if anything, he was still actively shaping.
Apple has made no public statement about the nature of his departure. The transition has simply been allowed to play out, unhurried and largely unannounced, in the way that Apple tends to manage such things.
The record of his tenure is mixed. Giannandrea helped build the machine learning infrastructure that underpins Apple’s current AI initiatives, and his influence on foundational systems endures. But some projects associated with his period, including the long-gestating Apple Car, were eventually scrapped. And Siri, the crown jewel of Apple’s consumer AI offering, remained a persistent source of frustration for users and executives alike.
Apple’s AI ambitions did not diminish with Giannandrea’s retreat. If anything, they intensified. Apple Intelligence, the company’s broader generative AI push, has been rolled out across its devices under reshuffled leadership. The organisation has moved on. Giannandrea’s departure on April 15 simply makes that official.
