Apple Appoints New AI lead as Strategy Shifts
CUPERTINO, CA – November 6, 2025 – Apple has named Subramanya Sharma as its new head of Artificial Intelligence, replacing John Giannandrea, who is stepping down from the role. The move comes amid increasing pressure on Apple too accelerate its AI progress and follows reports of internal challenges and a strategic pivot towards utilizing external AI models.
Giannandrea,who joined Apple from Google in 2018 where he led Machine Intelligence and Search,previously oversaw Apple’s AI strategy,machine learning infrastructure,and Siri development. During his tenure, Apple focused on processing AI tasks directly on users’ devices using its custom Apple Silicon chips, prioritizing user privacy by minimizing data collection. More complex requests were routed through Private Cloud Compute, servers designed for temporary data processing and immediate deletion.
However, recent investigations by Bloomberg revealed organizational dysfunction within Apple’s AI teams, including communication breakdowns between AI and marketing, budget misalignments, and an exodus of AI researchers to competitors like OpenAI, google, and Meta.The report detailed a climate of internal criticism, wiht some employees reportedly referring to Giannandrea’s group as ”AI/MLess.”
In March 2025, apple reassigned Siri oversight from Giannandrea to Mike Rockwell, creator of the Vision Pro. The company also removed its secretive robotics division from giannandrea’s control.
Now, Apple is reportedly planning to integrate Google’s Gemini model to power the next iteration of Siri, a notable development given the longstanding rivalry between the two tech giants.
Sharma will report to Craig Federighi and is tasked with helping Apple catch up in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Apple’s approach of on-device AI processing presents trade-offs, resulting in smaller, less capable models compared to those running in competitors’ data centers. apple’s privacy focus has also limited its access to the vast real-world data sets used to train AI systems at companies like Google and microsoft.
