Things are taking a downward turn for Apple. The company has faced criticism from users for failing to deliver on its promised Apple Intelligence features. At WWDC 2024, Apple announced that a more intelligent Siri, with personal context, would arrive in 2025. However, those personalized Siri features have now been delayed. In response to the controversy, Apple is reportedly making corporate level changes, according to a report by Mark Gurman.
Bloomberg reports that Mike Rockwell, the executive overseeing Vision Pro development, has now been assigned to lead the Siri department. Previously, Siri was managed by John Giannandrea, who held the role of senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy at Apple.
Reports suggest that Apple CEO Tim Cook has “lost confidence” in John Giannandrea after the failure to deliver Siri’s promised personalized features. Despite this, Giannandrea will remain at Apple and continue overseeing AI products and execution, excluding Siri.
To replace Mike Rockwell, Paul Meade will take over as the new chief executive for Spatial Computing efforts, while Rockwell shifts focus to accelerating the development of Siri’s features.
The shuffle in Apple’s executive ranks signals that the company is taking Siri’s underperformance seriously, especially after failing to deliver on its promises.
Apple Intelligence has faced a lackluster reception, and today, a lawsuit was filed against Apple for allegedly falsely advertising its AI features, deceiving customers who purchased new iPhones based on those promises.
As troubles continue to mount for Apple, the executive changes set to be communicated to employees this week may offer the company a chance to turn the situation around and regain momentum.
