Apple Inc. reorganizes its executive leadership to meet the current challenges in its artificial intelligence initiatives (AI), according to sources knowing the issue, said a reported news agency Bloomberg.
Siri’s recovery attempt has become urgent for Apple because the technology giant has struggled to provide new capacities announced in June, including features that would allow Siri to access user data to respond to requests.
Although these features are not ready to be published, Apple has continued to promote them in television advertisements for months to market the iPhone 16 line.
The chief executive officer, Tim Cook, decided to reallocate responsibilities after being dissatisfied with the progress of the AI chief, John Giannandrea, on the development of products. As part of this restructuring, Mike Rockwell, who previously directed the development of the vision pro helmet, will assume a new role supervising the virtual assistant SIRI.
Rockwell will directly fall under the CRAIG FEDERIGHI software manager, by effectively removing SIRI from the competence of Giannandrea. Apple officially communicated these changes to the staff on Thursday, after the news was reported by Bloomberg.
Response to competition
The executive reshuffle arrives at a critical moment for Apple, because the 100 senior business leaders recently concluded their annual confidential meeting where AI strategy was a central discussion subject.
This leadership adjustment reflects Apple’s urgent need to meet its position on the AI market, where the company has notably lagged behind the competitors. The Apple Intelligence platform, which was to be the flagship functionality of the iPhone 16, faced FLAK for its delayed version and its limited functionality.
Transition of Apple Vision Pro leadership
In its new capacity, Rockwell will move away from its current role as vice-president of the Vision Products group (VPG), which was responsible for the development of the mixed reality headset. While the Vision Pro software teams will follow the Rockwell division to Federighi in software engineering, the hardware team will remain under the organization of John Ternus, under Paul Meade, a material engineering framework with Vision Pro Experience.
SIRI development challenges
The urgency behind these changes is highlighted by recent internal discussions. Robby Walker, who led Siri’s development, would have told his team that the delays were “ugly” and recognized that team members could feel “angry and embarrassed”. Walker has also expressed its uncertainty about future deadlines due to competing development priorities.
Despite these internal challenges, Apple publicly undertook to provide the promised features during the “to come”.