Apple Names Amar Subramanya New VP of AI

Apple has appointed veteran AI researcher Amar Subramanya as its new vice president of AI, succeeding John Giannandrea, who will step down from his role and retire in spring 2026. Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president for Machine Learning and AI Strategy since 2018, will continue as an advisor during the transition.

Subramanya will report to senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi and take charge of key areas including Apple Foundation Models, machine learning research, and AI safety and evaluation. The remaining parts of Giannandrea’s organisation will move under operations chief Sabih Khan and services head Eddy Cue, aligning Apple’s AI teams more closely with product and services functions.

Giannandrea has been central to Apple’s AI strategy over the past seven years, building out a large in-house team responsible for Apple’s foundation models, search and knowledge systems, machine learning research, and AI infrastructure. His work laid the groundwork for Apple’s upcoming AI upgrades, including a more personalised Siri slated for release next year.

Subramanya joins Apple with extensive experience across big-tech AI programs. He most recently served as corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft and previously spent 16 years at Google, where he was head of engineering for the Gemini Assistant. Apple said his background in both advanced ML research and integrating AI into consumer products will help accelerate the company’s next phase of Apple Intelligence features.

“We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work,” CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “AI has long been central to Apple’s strategy, and we are pleased to welcome Amar to Craig’s leadership team.”

Apple said the leadership changes strengthen its commitment to developing trusted, personalised AI capabilities across its devices and services as it prepares for the next generation of AI-powered user experiences.