AI Executive Staff Get To Resurrect Siri says Apple

According to sources familiar with the matter, Apple is going through an unusual leadership reorganisation in an attempt to restart its artificial intelligence initiatives following months of setbacks and delays.

Tim Cook, the CEO, is bringing on Mike Rockwell, the developer of Vision Pro, to assist since he no longer believes AI chief John Giannandrea can carry out product development. According to insiders who asked not to be named because the changes have not been made public, Rockwell will take on a new position as the head of the Siri virtual assistant.

Giannandrea will no longer be in charge of Siri as Rockwell will answer to Craig Federighi, the software leader. After Bloomberg News first reported on the changes, Apple made the announcement to its staff on Thursday.

Senior executives of the iPhone manufacturer, referred to as the Top 100, recently convened in a private, yearly offsite meeting to talk about the company’s future. According to Bloomberg, its AI initiatives were a major topic of discussion throughout the meeting.

The actions highlight Apple’s predicament: Its AI technology is far behind its competitors in the business, and there is little indication that the company will catch up. The arrival of the Apple Intelligence platform was delayed.

Currently serving as vice president in charge of the Vision Products Group (VPG), the company that created Apple’s headset, is Rockwell. The Vision Pro software groups will accompany him to Federighi’s software engineering group, but he will be departing that team as part of the adjustments. John Ternus will continue to lead the hardware team, and they will answer to Paul Meade, a hardware engineering executive who worked on the Vision Pro.

Apple’s Cupertino, California, spokeswoman declined to comment on the actions.

Siri’s rescue is very essential. New capabilities, such as the capacity to access user data to answer questions, were announced in June of last year, but the firm has had difficulty implementing them. To sell the iPhone 16, Apple spent months promoting the improvements on television, even though the technology wasn’t yet available. The business additionally postponed the features earlier this month due to development issues.

In a recent meeting, the Apple manager who has overseen Siri up until this point informed his team that the delays were “ugly” and that employees could feel ashamed and outraged. Due to conflicting development objectives, the executive, Robby Walker, also expressed uncertainty about when the features would really be released. According to Apple’s public statements, the features will be available in the “coming year.”

As part of a larger slide in tech companies, Apple’s stock has dropped 15% so far this year. On Thursday in New York, they dropped less than 1% to $214.10.

Apple is placing a wager on an executive with demonstrated technical expertise by hiring Rockwell. He has proven that he can manage an engineering company with thousands of employees and launch new products. Rockwell frequently acts as an advocate for cutting-edge technology and has a talent for problem-solving.

The Vision Pro, which is regarded as a technological marvel but not a commercial success, was created by Rockwell. Several technological innovations were needed to bring the headgear to market, some of which made use of artificial intelligence. At a time when that unit is having difficulty determining the product’s future, he is now departing from the Vision Pro.

In the past ten years, Rockwell has been among the few Apple executives to take a significant hardware item from “zero to one,” the industry term for developing and launching a new product. In 2015, he became a member of Apple’s hardware engineering team, and the firm in February unveiled the Vision Pro.

The background of Giannandrea is distinct. He was appointed in 2018 to oversee Apple’s AI efforts after previously being a Google star. One of Alphabet Inc.’s top executives, Giannandrea had been in charge of the search and artificial intelligence departments. In contrast, Rockwell lacks influence in the emerging machine-learning ecosystem and no prior experience as an AI leader.

By increasingly referring to the Vision Pro and VPG programs as “AI products” internally, Apple has paved the way for the shift. Additionally, Rockwell’s hardware expertise may enable the company to incorporate AI more thoroughly into its upcoming products. Already, the business is studying the possibility of AirPods with outward-facing cameras that may give data to AI.

Over the years, the AI division’s primary consumer product, Siri, has had several managers. Software executive Scott Forstall was in charge of the voice assistant when Apple originally introduced it in 2011. Eddy Cue, the head of services, received it in 2012, and Federighi, the current head of software, received it in 2017. More than a year later, Giannandrea seized it. Rockwell will now take over, and Federighi will once more be in charge of monitoring.

Despite Rockwell taking over Siri, Giannandrea will continue to work for the firm. A sudden exit would indicate to the public that Apple’s AI efforts have been turbulent, something the company is hesitant to admit. Among Giannandrea’s other duties is the supervision of AI-related research, testing, and technology. Additionally, the corporation maintains a robotics research team under Giannandrea’s supervision.

Federighi is the senior vice president of software engineering at Rockwell, where he was promoted to manager. In addition to development tools, he is in charge of the creation of Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, and macOS operating systems. He played a significant role in the creation of Apple Intelligence with Giannandrea. He’s now planning a comprehensive update for the company’s main software as well.

Long before Giannandrea took over, Siri had been beset by engineering and quality issues. While he has had difficulty reviving that technology, he has made progress in other areas, including attracting top AI researchers to Apple, which had not previously been recognized for such work, and consolidating the company’s AI efforts into a single division.

The change in AI management was months in the works and came before Apple revealed the delays in Siri. Kim Vorrath, a Rockwell subordinate, was hired by the business last year to provide guidance to the Siri team. She is renowned for restoring structure and efficiency to problematic development initiatives. She was formally transferred to the AI group in January to supervise the operation of the AI program as a top lieutenant under Giannandrea. Now she’s going to Federighi’s department.

In the past several days, Apple began shifting over another senior manager from Rockwell’s team — Aimee Nugent — to the Siri group. Like Vorrath, she has a reputation for solving tough tasks. The adjustments made it possible for two of Rockwell’s most trusted executives to assess the company before he became deeply involved.

According to some with knowledge of the situation, Rockwell has not been afraid to criticize Siri within Apple. He has been presenting senior vice presidents with ideas for improving the voice assistant’s personalization for years. In recent weeks, he has also started providing advice to the AI group. Giannandrea has long viewed Rockwell as a possible successor, even before the management changes.

Rockwell thought that Siri may be a key control mechanism for the $3,499 Vision Pro. The business now focuses mostly on hand-and-eye control, making it a restricted aspect.

As the business sought to integrate Apple Intelligence into the Vision Pro, Rockwell gained more familiarity with the AI team in recent months. As part of an update to the visionOS software, the functions will be available on the headset in April.