Apple has appointed Amar Subramanya, a veteran researcher with long experience in machine learning, as its new vice president of artificial intelligence, replacing John Giannandrea. Reuters reported that the move comes as the company faces mounting pressure to accelerate its AI strategy after trailing rivals in deploying advanced features across consumer devices.
Subramanya will oversee Apple’s work on foundation models and machine-learning research and will report to Craig Federighi, the company’s senior vice president of software engineering. His appointment marks one of the most significant leadership changes in Apple’s AI organisation since Giannandrea, a former Google executive, was hired in 2018 to consolidate the firm’s AI and Siri teams.
Subramanya joins Apple from Microsoft, where he served as corporate vice president of AI and helped steer the company’s rapid expansion into agentic systems and enterprise-focused models. Before that, he spent 16 years at Google, including as head of engineering for the Gemini assistant and in senior roles across search, ads and conversational AI.
Giannandrea will continue to advise Apple until his planned retirement in spring 2026. His departure follows reports in several U.S. outlets that chief executive Tim Cook had grown frustrated with the pace of product development within the AI group, particularly as competitors such as Samsung and Google shipped AI-powered features more quickly.
Apple has been criticised for moving cautiously in the generative AI race, even as it invests heavily in on-device intelligence and privacy-preserving architectures. Earlier this year, the company said enhancements to Siri powered by new AI models would be delayed until 2026, underscoring the scale of engineering work still under way.
Subramanya’s arrival signals an effort to reset momentum and sharpen execution as Apple prepares its next generation of AI-enabled products and services. Analysts expect his background across three major technology companies to influence how Apple builds and deploys its core models, setting the stage for more visible consumer-facing advances in the coming years.