Indian American AI Researcher Amar Subramanya Named Apple’s New VP of Artificial Intelligence

Apple announced Monday that John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president for Machine Learning and AI Strategy, is stepping down from his position and will serve as an advisor to the company before retiring in the spring of 2026. Apple also announced that renowned AI researcher Amar Subramanya has joined Apple as vice president of AI, reporting to Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering.

The appointment marks one of the most significant leadership changes in Apple’s AI division as the company faces mounting pressure to accelerate its artificial intelligence capabilities and catch up with rivals like Google, Microsoft, and Samsung.

The shakeup comes as experts this year have said Apple has fallen behind its tech peers in AI, a tech field that has been reinvigorated since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, according to CNBC. Apple Intelligence, which was intended to put Apple alongside AI leaders like OpenAI and Google, has not been well-reviewed by users and critics, according to CBS News.

Subramanya will lead critical areas, including Apple Foundation Models and ML research, according to Reuters.

Bringing Competitor Expertise to Apple

Subramanya brings a wealth of experience to Apple, having 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 Google’s Gemini Assistant.

During his graduate studies, he worked at Microsoft Research on projects related to multi-sensory fusion, robust speech recognition, and speaker verification, and was a recipient of the Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship in 2007.

Subramanya, an Indian-origin engineer with nearly two decades of experience in machine learning and large-scale AI systems, holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical, Electronics and Communication Engineering from Bangalore University. He later completed his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Washington. His research focused on developing semi-supervised learning algorithms for speech and human activity recognition.

During his graduate studies, he worked at Microsoft Research on projects related to multi-sensory fusion, robust speech recognition, and speaker verification, and was a recipient of the Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship in 2007.

Career Journey

Subramanya is regarded as a seasoned engineering leader known for bridging cutting-edge AI research with real-world product implementation.

His appointment comes at a crucial time for Apple, which has faced criticism for falling behind rivals such as Samsung and Google in the race for advanced AI-powered features.

Apple’s decision to bring in a researcher with deep experience in generative AI signals a renewed push to strengthen Apple Intelligence, the company’s suite of upcoming AI features expected to integrate across iPhone, Mac and iPad devices.

Subramanya’s 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, according to Apple.

Organizational Changes

Subramanya will lead Apple’s research, model development and safety work and report to Craig Federighi, while the rest of Giannandrea’s organization will report to two other executives — Sabih Khan and Eddy Cue, according to Axios.

These leadership moves will help Apple continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, with Giannandrea’s contributions as a foundation, Federighi’s expanded oversight and Subramanya’s deep expertise guiding the next generation of AI technologies, according to Apple.

This moment marks an exciting new chapter as Apple strengthens its commitment to shaping the future of AI for users everywhere, according to Apple.

This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.