Apple AI leadership shift
John Giannandrea, Apple’s former AI chief, is officially leaving the company this week after a vesting and advisory period. Reports link his exit to struggles in Apple's AI efforts and say the company is testing four frame designs for AI‑powered glasses aimed at a 2027 launch, with devices reportedly using an N401 chip but no display (9to5mac.com; thenextweb.com).
John Giannandrea, the Apple executive hired from Google to run artificial intelligence, is leaving the company this week after staying on through an advisory and stock-vesting period. (9to5mac.com) Bloomberg reported in March 2025 that Apple moved Siri out of Giannandrea’s control, putting Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell in charge of the assistant and routing that work to software chief Craig Federighi. (bloomberg.com) Apple’s public artificial intelligence push started at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2024, when it introduced Apple Intelligence as a system that uses generative models and personal context across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple began shipping the first features in October 2024. (apple.com; apple.com) The biggest missing piece was the more personalized Siri Apple showed in 2024. In March 2025, Apple said those features — including awareness of personal context and actions across apps — would take longer than expected and would roll out in the coming year. (daringfireball.net; apple.com) As Giannandrea exits, Apple is also testing a different artificial intelligence product: smart glasses with no display. Bloomberg reported on April 12, 2026 that Apple is trying several frame styles for a first model meant to compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses rather than with full augmented-reality headsets. (bloomberg.com; macrumors.com) The reported hardware is simpler than a headset: cameras, microphones, speakers, and a custom N401 chip, but no screen inside the lenses. The Next Web said Apple is testing four frame designs and targeting a 2027 launch. (thenextweb.com) That approach lines up with Apple’s recent device strategy. Bloomberg reported in February 2026 that Apple was accelerating work on glasses, camera-equipped AirPods, and a pendant-style wearable built around Siri. (bloomberg.com) Apple has not publicly announced Giannandrea’s departure or confirmed the glasses project. What is public is the sequence: a 2024 artificial intelligence debut, a 2025 Siri delay, a leadership reshuffle, and now the formal exit of the executive who was brought in to lead the effort. (apple.com; 9to5mac.com; bloomberg.com)
