Apple's AI chief continues to be 'punished'

According to Bloomberg analyst Mark Gurman, Apple is moving its secretive robotics division from the AI ​​group to the hardware division, overseen by Senior Vice President John Ternus.

The move is believed to be an effort to catch up in the field of artificial intelligence, where Apple has fallen behind other companies in technology. The change will give the AI ​​division more time to focus on perfecting Apple Intelligence.

Notably, this is also the second major project to fall out of AI chief John Giannandrea's purview in the past month.

What is Apple's robotics division doing?

Few people know about Apple's robotics division, which is working on ways to use AI technology to power devices that could potentially pave the way for a new product category, according to Bloomberg .

Kevin Lynch, who previously managed Apple Watch software and the now-defunct self-driving car initiative, is now the head of Apple's robotics project. Photo: Bloomberg.

According to the information revealed, this group is led by veteran CEO Kevin Lynch, who used to manage Apple Watch software and the self-driving car initiative (now discontinued).

As part of the project, Apple is planning to launch a desktop robot that uses an artificial arm to move around a screen, an idea similar to the iPad. Further into the future, the team has discussed building mobile machines, including a walking robot similar to Amazon Astro.

These products are designed to be telepresence devices, meaning they will allow a user at a meeting to chat with another person.

Robotics is quickly emerging as one of the most exciting fields in Silicon Valley, with Tesla Meta and other tech giants investing billions of dollars in the category.

After losing its edge in generative AI, scrapping its self-driving car plans, and entering the smart home market late, Apple probably doesn't want to miss out on another potentially big AI-based product.

Top Apple executives have confidence in Ternus’ ability to oversee the project. He is one of CEO Tim Cook’s most trusted lieutenants and has led hardware engineering for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro and most of Apple’s major products.

Many employees even believe Ternus could be Apple's next CEO — a possible future change as robotics becomes more mainstream.

"Paying the price" for Siri

Meanwhile, for John Giannandrea, head of AI, the change marks yet another blow after major delays in key Siri features and a lukewarm response to Apple's Intelligence platform.

After failing to fully integrate AI features into iOS 19 this year, hundreds of engineers from Giannandrea's team were transferred to Ternus, Rockwell, and software chief Craig Federighi's team. Gurman said this showed that Tim Cook had lost confidence in the AI ​​chief's ability to execute and develop new products.

According to a Bloomberg report, Robby Walker, senior director in charge of the Siri development team, admitted the delay was a bad situation.

Notably, he said that the AI-powered features built into iOS 19 are unlikely to arrive this year. “Apple has commitments to a lot of projects. We want to keep our credibility on those projects and prioritize the urgent features,” Robby Walker said.

Giannandrea (left) has lost several important projects at Apple after failing to fully integrate AI features into iOS 19 this year. Photo: Bloomberg.

Currently, Siri on iOS 18 has two “brains”: one to operate the old system, one to handle advanced queries. The lack of integration between the two systems makes the software run less smoothly.

That means Apple is more than half a decade behind schedule. On top of that, the company’s competitors aren’t standing still. The market landscape could look very different in two years, especially with the proliferation of AI startups.

But in the broader sense, these changes free up Giannandrea's team to focus on developing and refining the foundational models for future Apple products — including upgrades to Apple Intelligence and Siri.

Giannandrea has given no indication to his team that he plans to leave anytime soon, but the continued shifting of responsibilities has raised the possibility that the company may be preparing for a scenario without the executive leading its AI efforts.

In addition, eight years after combining Apple's AI teams into a single group with the hiring of Giannandrea, Bloomberg, citing internal sources, revealed that the possibility of the AI ​​and ML (machine learning) teams being split seems increasingly likely.

Source: https://znews.vn/giam-doc-ai-cua-apple-tiep-tuc-bi-trung-phat-post1548628.html