Apple appoints Amar Subramanya as new AI chief amid leadership reshuffle

Apple has announced its biggest AI leadership shake-up since launching Apple Intelligence, replacing long-time AI chief John Giannandrea with Amar Subramanya.

Sarthak Singh

December 02, 2025 / 07:31 IST

Apple

Apple has confirmed the departure of John Giannandrea, the senior vice president who has led the company’s AI efforts since 2018. He’ll remain as an advisor only until next spring. Stepping into the role is Amar Subramanya, a researcher who previously worked at Microsoft and Google’s DeepMind, marking the first major leadership shift in Apple’s AI division since Apple Intelligence launched in 2024.

The transition lands at a tricky moment. Industry experts have spent much of the year questioning whether Apple has fallen behind its peers in AI, especially as Microsoft, Google, Meta and others pour billions into data centres, advanced chips and frontier models. Apple Intelligence, pitched as Apple’s big AI coming-out party, has struggled to resonate. Reviews have been lukewarm, and one of its headline features, a much-improved Siri, was pushed back to 2026. For a company known for polishing every detail before release, the delay was a telling sign of internal strain.

Subramanya takes over as vice president of AI and will report to software chief Craig Federighi, who Apple says has already been deeply involved in steering AI development. Teams focused on foundation models, AI research and safety will shift to Subramanya, while other groups previously under Giannandrea will now report to COO Sabih Khan and services head Eddy Cue.

Despite Apple’s 16 percent share rise this year, the stock has still trailed its tech peers. Investors have grown impatient with Apple’s slower, more device-centric approach to AI, even though the company insists that running AI locally is the future. Apple has promised to “significantly increase” its AI spending and has partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT into products such as Siri.

The wider landscape is shifting as well. Former Apple design chief Jony Ive recently sold his startup to OpenAI for Rs 6.4 billion, with the intention of helping the lab build its own hardware. Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have said the first prototypes are already in the bag and could be shown within two years. With AI hardware on the horizon, Apple’s long-held advantage in product design and user loyalty may soon be tested in ways it hasn’t been since the iPhone launched in 2007.