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New Delhi: Apple has appointed Amar Subramanya as its new vice president of AI at a time when the company is under growing pressure to show faster progress in artificial intelligence. The move comes right after John Giannandrea, Apple’s long time AI head, announced that he will step down and retire in 2026. Subramanya will now play a major part in shaping the next wave of Apple’s AI features, including future improvements to Siri.
There is a lot of attention on his arrival because Apple Intelligence and Siri upgrades have not received the best reactions from users so far. Many experts feel the company needs stronger leadership to match rivals like Google and Microsoft. So who exactly is this new AI leader Apple is counting on?
Amar Subramanya is an experienced AI researcher and engineering leader who has led major projects in some of the biggest tech companies. Before joining Apple, he served as corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft. And before that, he spent 16 years at Google where he was head of engineering for the Gemini assistant. He has also worked with Google’s DeepMind AI group according to his LinkedIn profile.
Apple said “His deep expertise in both AI and ML research and in integrating that research into products and features will be important to Apple’s ongoing innovation and future Apple Intelligence features.” The company believes his background will help the upcoming AI features that users will soon see across iPhone and Mac.
Subramanya will now report directly to Craig Federighi. In a statement, CEO Tim Cook said Federighi has been “instrumental in driving our AI efforts, including overseeing our work to bring a more personalized Siri to users next year.” Apple is hoping the leadership change gives Siri a much needed push forward.
Subramanya completed his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Electronics and Communication Engineering from Bangalore University. Later, he earned a PhD from the University of Washington, where he worked on machine learning and large scale systems. People from Bengaluru often say the city is a hub for tech dreams and his story probably makes many engineering students feel hopeful.
His career graph looks like a list of tech giants. Users of Google products have likely interacted with technologies his teams helped build. At Microsoft, he worked on AI systems including the foundation models used in Copilot. And now at Apple, he will be responsible for foundation models, AI safety and core AI research. Teams that earlier reported to Giannandrea will shift closer to Sabih Khan and Eddy Cue for better alignment.
Apple has already delayed a more advanced Siri to 2026. The Apple Intelligence launch faced mixed reactions. Some people I know who use iPhones daily told me they expected something bigger. And investors have been worried too. Apple shares are up 16 percent this year but still behind other tech giants who are spending much more on data centers and AI hardware.
Apple says it is increasing its spending on AI. Cook said “AI has long been central to Apple’s strategy.” The company also partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to some Apple products. That shows they know things need to move faster.
Subramanya steps into this high pressure role when Apple is trying to prove that its devices can run powerful AI without finally depending too much on cloud servers. He now has to lead a big team that is working on Apple’s foundation models. If he succeeds, Siri could become smarter and more helpful very soon.
This leadership change marks an important shift for Apple. And his name might become familiar to millions of iPhone users in the coming years if Siri finally starts answering questions the way people always hoped.
