Sipu Jha
Apple analyst and Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has pointed the finger squarely at one hire he believes set the company back years in the AI race. Speaking on TBPN, the Bloomberg journalist called Apple’s 2018 recruitment of John Giannandrea from Google “the biggest mistake” of Tim Cook’s tenure as CEO.“In 2018, they hired John Giannandrea. He was this high flyer at Google. He ran AI in search, and Apple thought they would hire this guy and really hit the ground running and be at the forefront of AI,” Gurman explained. “You haven’t even scratched the surface of how big a problem this is for Apple. They’ve completely screwed up AI in every way, and it comes down to hiring the wrong people and entrusting the wrong people.”
Siri went from breakthrough to ‘utter junk’ under Giannandrea’s watch
The criticism stings because Apple was actually first to the game. When Siri launched in 2011, nothing else came close. But Gurman noted the assistant “became utter junk” in the years that followed, even as rivals like Google and Amazon caught up.Giannandrea was supposed to change that. Instead, reports from Bloomberg and The Information have painted a picture of delayed launches, internal chaos, and a talent exodus that saw key AI researchers flee to Meta and OpenAI. By spring 2025, Tim Cook had seen enough. He stripped Giannandrea of Siri responsibilities and handed the project to software chief Craig Federighi.
Apple now paying Google $1 billion a year to fix the mess
The fallout culminated in a remarkable admission this month: Apple can’t build competitive AI on its own. The company announced a multi-year deal with Google, paying roughly $1 billion annually to use Gemini models as the foundation for a revamped Siri.Giannandrea still holds his senior vice president title, but his actual influence has shrunk considerably. He’s 60 now and has reportedly told colleagues he wants to stay until Apple’s AI is “in proper shape”—while also expressing relief that Siri is “now someone else’s problem.”
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