Falling from the tree: Apple searching for replacement for AI chief John Giannandrea

Apple is actively searching for a replacement for its AI chief John Giannandrea, according to a new Bloomberg report. The move comes amid ongoing struggles with Apple’s AI initiatives and Siri development, along with recent organizational changes that have stripped away several of Giannandrea’s key responsibilities.

What you should know: Giannandrea’s position has become increasingly precarious following Apple’s well-documented AI challenges and staff departures from his team.

• Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that “The company is searching for a replacement for John Giannandrea, its artificial intelligence chief.”
• Apple executives have been evaluating external candidates, including a senior AI executive from Meta, to eventually replace Giannandrea.
• The search represents the strongest indication yet of Apple’s intent to make a leadership change in its AI division.

The big picture: This potential leadership shake-up is part of broader organizational restructuring at Apple as the company prepares for other executive transitions.

• The AI chief search coincides with preparations for Jeff Williams’ forthcoming retirement, which has triggered movement of health, fitness, and Apple Watch divisions under different leadership.
• Giannandrea’s team has been experiencing significant employee turnover, further weakening his position within the company.
• His status at Apple has been described as “uncertain” in previous reports, making this development less surprising to industry observers.

Context on Giannandrea: Apple hired the executive in 2018 from Google, where he led efforts to integrate AI throughout the company’s products.

• His recruitment was considered a major coup for Apple at the time, given his experience leading AI integration across Google’s search, Gmail, and digital assistant products.
• However, his tenure has been marked by Apple’s struggles to keep pace with competitors in AI development, particularly with Siri’s performance relative to other voice assistants.

Why this matters: A leadership change could signal Apple’s commitment to addressing its AI shortcomings and potentially restructure how the company approaches artificial intelligence development across its product ecosystem.