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Apple’s vice-president of artificial intelligence will be replaced by a top Microsoft executive as the iPhone maker struggles to recover from a slow start in the race to harness advanced AI.
John Giannandrea, senior vice-president for machine learning and AI strategy, will step down and serve as an adviser to Apple until retiring in the spring, the company said on Monday.
He will be replaced by former Microsoft executive Amar Subramanya, who leaves a job as a corporate vice-president for Microsoft six months after jumping ship from Google, where he worked on the Gemini chatbot.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said: “AI has long been central to Apple’s strategy, and we are pleased to welcome Amar . . . and to bring his extraordinary AI expertise to Apple.”
The leadership change in Apple’s AI division comes as Giannandrea faced mounting criticism for a faltering approach to deploying generative AI, the technology that underpins competitors’ products such as Gemini and ChatGPT.
Apple has been slow to catch up with the technology and roll out AI tools in recent years, as the popularity of chatbots has grown rapidly.
Giannandrea joined Apple in 2018, having led the integration of AI into Google products including search and Gmail. At Apple, he was responsible for Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, and the integration of AI into its devices.
Siri was removed from Giannandrea’s remit earlier this year, following delays to AI improvements.
Cook on Monday said: “We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work, helping Apple continue to innovate and enrich the lives of our users.”
Subramanya will report to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice-president of software engineering.
Cook said: “In addition to growing his leadership team and AI responsibilities with Amar joining, Craig has been instrumental in driving our AI efforts, including overseeing our work to bring a more personalised Siri to users next year.”
The shake-up comes as the company’s board has stepped up succession planning for Cook, the Financial Times has reported. Federighi is widely seen as a possible successor as CEO.
The changes are also the latest development in an intense war for AI talent among Big Tech rivals and start-ups such as OpenAI.
Subramanya was one of more than two dozen researchers poached by Microsoft from Google earlier this year as the software giant moved to build out its own so-called superintelligence team — working on models capable of matching human performance — spearheaded by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.
Microsoft chief Satya Nadella highlighted Subramanya’s appointment in a recent podcast interview, noting he would help the company expand its in-house research efforts after restructuring its relationship with OpenAI.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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