Apple AI Chief, John Giannandrea, Is Leaving, Microsoft Exec Joining

John Giannandrea, senior vice president for machine learning and AI strategy at Apple, is stepping down from his role, the company announced Monday.

Giannandrea will serve as an advisor to Apple before retiring in the spring.

“We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work, helping Apple continue to innovate and enrich the lives of our users,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in a statement.

Giannandrea, who was at Apple for nearly 8 years, previously worked for Google.

Amar Subramanya, an AI researcher who most recently served as a corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft, is now Apple’s vice president of AI, the company said. Prior to his time at Microsoft, Subramanya was at Google.

Subramanya had spent 16 years at Google and was head of engineering for Gemini, its AI assistant, before leaving for Microsoft in July.

The changes come as the AI talent wars have heated up this year, with Big Tech companies competing to retain and poach top engineers and researchers, including with multimillion-dollar pay packages.

Earlier this year, Meta poached several top AI researchers from Apple, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile. Business Insider reported that Microsoft has been trying to poach top engineers from Meta.