Report: Apple Vision Pro Managers Taking Lead of Siri Revamp

Apple’s work on Siri will reportedly be led by managers who developed Vision Pro.

Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell, who is the new Siri engineering chief, is bringing members of the Vision Pro management team to Siri, replacing or demoting previous managers of the voice assistant business, Bloomberg reported Tuesday (April 22), citing unnamed sources.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The company’s efforts to fix Siri have encountered project delays and engineering problems and have come to symbolize Apple’s difficulties in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, according to the report.

While Vision Pro has not been a commercial hit, Rockwell’s leadership of the development of the device showed his ability to take on major projects, gain support from top leadership and produce a well-regarding operating system and product, the report said.

Rockwell remains in charge of the Vision Pro operating system, visionOS, even as he leads Siri, per the report.

It was reported March 20 that Apple put Rockwell in charge of Siri and removed the voice assistant from the oversight of AI head John Giannadrea in order to speed up the development of AI products.

Those leadership changes followed an annual offsite meeting of Apple’s senior leaders, the “Top 100,” at which the company’s AI efforts were a key topic of discussion.

Rockwell had demonstrated with the Vision Pro his ability to ship new products, as he became one of the few Apple leaders over the past decade to take a major hardware device from conception to market.

Siri was revolutionary when it debuted in 2011 but now lags behind competitors like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Gemini for Android devices, and Samsung’s Galaxy AI — all of which are ahead in incorporating more advanced AI features — PYMNTS reported in March.

Luc Julia, a co-designer of the original Siri and now chief scientific officer of French automaker Renault, told PYMNTS in March that one hurdle to moving faster is Apple’s culture, as a product must be “nearly perfect” before it is introduced.

“They are falling behind because of this fear of not being perfect,” Julia said.

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