March 21, 2025 – In a surprising move reported yesterday (March 20) by Bloomberg, Apple Inc. has undergone a rare executive restructuring aimed at revitalizing its stagnant AI projects, which have suffered from prolonged delays.
According to the report, CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in the head of AI, John Giannandrea, and has instead appointed Mike Rockwell, previously in charge of the Vision Pro team, to take over the Siri voice assistant business. This shift underscores Apple’s sense of urgency in the AI field, where it lags behind industry rivals, and its attempt to turn the situation around by reorganizing its technical team.
Rockwell will now helm the Siri project, reporting to software chief Craig Federighi, completely severing Siri from Giannandrea’s oversight. Paul Meade, a hardware engineer, will succeed Rockwell in leading the Vision Pro team.
While Giannandrea will no longer be involved in Siri-related work, he will retain responsibilities for AI research. However, his power has been further diluted, suggesting a decline in his influence.
Bloomberg notes that Rockwell is known for his hardware breakthroughs with Vision Pro but lacks experience in managing AI teams. Cook may be hoping that he can bring AI technology closer to product development, though team integration, technological maturity, and market competition remain significant challenges.
Apple’s AI platform, “Apple Intelligence,” has faced delays due to technological immaturity, pushing back promotional features for the iPhone 16. The company’s share price has fallen 14% this year. In an internal “Top 100” executive meeting, AI was identified as a critical issue, with Cook expressing concerns that the current team was struggling to bring products to market.
Over the past year, Apple’s AI team has encountered repeated setbacks in Siri’s functional development. New features showcased at the 2024 WWDC conference were postponed multiple times, causing “outrage and embarrassment” among some internal staff.
In an emergency meeting, Apple’s senior executives acknowledged that the development progress of some features was “much slower” than expected. Giannandrea described the project delays as “ugly” during the meeting but failed to provide clear solutions.
