John Giannandrea, Apple’s long-time head of artificial intelligence, is leaving the company this week, marking the end of his role during a period shaped by delays and mixed results in AI development, including the rollout of Apple Intelligence and postponed Siri upgrades.
His departure was not unexpected, as his role was significantly reduced in March 2025 after Apple Intelligence failed to meet expectations and the planned Siri improvements were repeatedly delayed. At the end of 2025, Apple's officially confirmed that he would retire in 2026.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, his final working day is this week, which also aligns with the vesting of his stock options on April 15.
Giannandrea joined Apple in 2018 after working at Google, where he led artificial intelligence development. At Apple, he was responsible for the company’s overall AI and machine learning strategy, including Siri, robotics, and foundation models.
Over the past eight years, Apple invested heavily in on-device AI and private cloud systems under his leadership, but user-facing results—especially Siri, have lagged behind competitors, leading to a mixed legacy.
