Apple Shares Slide On Report Cook 'Lost Confidence’ In AI Head

Bloomberg reports that Apple is undergoing a rare shake-up of its executive ranks, aiming to get its artificial intelligence efforts back on track after months of delays and stumbles, according to people familiar with the situation.

CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in the ability of AI head John Giannandrea to execute on product development, so he’s moving over another top executive to help: Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell.

An odd choice given the epic fail that Vision Pro has been.

In a new role, Rockwell will be in charge of the Siri virtual assistant, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the moves haven’t been announced.

Rockwell will report to software chief Craig Federighi, removing Siri completely from Giannandrea’s command.

A former Google star, Giannandrea was hired in 2018 to run Apple’s AI work, having previously been one of Alphabet Inc.’s most senior executives, overseeing the search and AI divisions.

Apple is poised to announce the changes to employees this week.

As Bloomberg concludes, the moves underscore the plight facing Apple: Its AI technology is severely lagging industry rivals, and the company has shown little sign of catching up.

The Apple Intelligence platform was late to arrive and largely a flop, despite being the main selling point for the iPhone 16.

The Apple manager who has led Siri until now told his team in a recent meeting that the delays were “ugly” and that staffers may be angry and embarrassed.

The executive, Robby Walker, also said he was unsure when the features would actually arrive due to competing development priorities.

Apple has publicly stated that the features will be ready sometime in the “coming year.”