Apple has appointed longtime researcher Amar Subramanya as its new vice president of AI, taking over the responsibilities once held by John Giannandrea. For years the company has been spoken of as lagging behind in the contest over modern intelligence systems, moving hesitantly while competitors such as Samsung have been quicker to outfit their devices with the newest machine-driven features.

In his new role, Subramanya will oversee Apple’s work on foundational models and broader machine-learning research, and he will answer directly to software chief Craig Federighi. His arrival follows a period at Microsoft, where he served as corporate vice president of AI, and a long stretch at Google, where he held posts that included leading engineering for the Gemini assistant.

Giannandrea, rather than departing at once, will remain as an adviser until his planned retirement next spring. Earlier in the year Apple conceded that its intended overhaul of Siri’s intelligence would be postponed until 2026. Quiet reports have suggested that Tim Cook had grown uneasy with the pace of progress under Giannandrea, and that doubts over his ability to push complex ideas into real products shaped the decision to bring in new leadership.

Final Words

Apple is at a crossroads that it has been before, with Subramanya in the helm, fashionably late to the AI party, but with the same type of confidence that coming in second (or third, or fourth) somehow makes you better. The company which once transformed smartphones is now seeing Samsung users casually talking to their phones as Siri continues to fail to set more than one timer without hassle. 

It is yet to be seen whether the urgency that Apple is in dire need of will be injected by the pedigree of Subramanya of Google and Microsoft. It is not just a technical difficulty he is facing but a cultural one. He has to work in a company that has been years behind in the pace of a software update on an iPhone 6, and all the time Cook must be tapping his watch impatiently in Cupertino. 

The intelligence upgrade of Siri is scheduled to occur in 2026, which is an indication that Apple is still trying to refine the technology of yesterday to be used in the market tomorrow. At this pace, artificial intelligence may become conscious before Siri learns to comprehend accents.