Apple is removing another project from AI chief John Giannandrea, and he will no longer oversee Apple’s secret robotics division, according to Bloomberg.
After Apple failed to deliver promised Apple Intelligence Siri features on time under Giannandrea’s leadership, Apple asked Vision Pro chief Mike Rockwell to oversee the Siri team and future Siri development instead.
Now the robotics team will make a similar move, transitioning to the hardware division where robotics development will be overseen by Apple senior vice president John Ternus instead of Giannandrea. Giannandrea continues to head up Apple’s AI and machine learning efforts, and changing the robotics team leadership will give his team more time to focus on new artificial intelligence features. Giannandrea has hundreds fewer engineers to manage, and the shift is a clear indication that Apple leadership does not feel that he can lead multiple teams.
Apple is making major management changes in order to further prioritize Apple Intelligence, as it needs to catch up with Google, OpenAI, Perplexity, and other AI companies that are leagues ahead in AI development.
Kevin Lynch, who oversaw the development of the Apple Watch and Apple’s now-canceled car, is leading the robotics team. Apple has several robotics projects in the works, and a tabletop robot with an arm that can move around an iPad-style display could be the first device to come from the robot team. Apple is also planning for a more mobile robot that would be more like an iPad on wheels able to carry out simple tasks, place calls, and answer queries.
Ternus is a top Apple exec and he has worked on some of Apple’s biggest products, overseeing the hardware engineering of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other devices. He already oversees another hardware engineering team working on robotics and smart home technologies, and Bloomberg suggests that Apple’s move to merge the two robotics teams could indicate that Apple is ramping up robot development.
