Federighi and Apple's AI Ambitions: Pragmatism Over Innovation?

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Even after restructuring its AI leadership, Apple still faces a long road ahead before it can develop suitable proprietary large AI models that would make the company independent of Google, OpenAI, and other AI developers, according to a new report. According to "The Information", some employees even fear that under the direction of software chief Craig Federighi, a more pragmatic, cautious approach is expected, relying more on partner assistance to deliver features quickly and avoiding large expenditures.

Federighi is considered by some within the company to be a penny-pincher, or more precisely, a banana-counter, because he is so focused on budgets for salaries and expenses that he even keeps an eye on the fruit baskets for the teams. Furthermore, he has repeatedly shown skepticism towards AI features in the past. Attempts to dynamically design the iPhone's lock screen with AI or create a new user interface were rejected by him. Federighi feared that users might lose their orientation. Additionally, he prefers functions to consistently lead to the same result – something that is difficult to guarantee with AI.

Federighi Against Excessive Salaries

Only his own experiments with ChatGPT initiated a change of heart. However, Federighi has remained conservative on the question of how far Apple should go in developing its own models. He rejects top salaries for AI specialists that exceed those of Apple's management, even though they are industry standard.

The fact that Apple's long-time Senior Vice President for Software is now making AI a top priority is primarily due to Apple's failure to meet its AI goals both in terms of time and functionality. John Giannandra, whom Apple brought in from outside the company, had responsibilities taken away as a result. In December, he relinquished his position and will retire in spring 2026. Industry experts see this more as a quiet dismissal. Apple took the opportunity to restructure responsibilities. Amar Subramanya is the new Vice President for AI, but his position is subordinate to Federighi. The leadership of the Siri team went to Mike Rockwell, who previously led the Vision Pro team.

Departure from Previous AI Strategy

Instead of continuing to rely on its own models, which cannot compete with the large Large Language Models (LLMs) from OpenAI and Google, Apple is now, under Federighi, relying on a multi-billion dollar cooperation with Google and the use of Gemini. Furthermore, there are discussions about using Google's cloud infrastructure and its AI accelerators (TPUs) for future Siri versions. Apple is even considering a significant departure from its previous strategy of running AI as locally as possible on devices or in a highly protected cloud environment, which Apple calls Private Cloud Compute.

Several AI Devices Planned

The tensions also explain the departure of several AI specialists. For its new course, Apple is considering acquiring small AI companies with expertise in model miniaturization. This should be seen as a sign that Apple intends to work with acquired models in the medium term, even if work on its own local models continues. The primary goal is to enable a range of AI devices. These include an iPad-like desktop device and a type of AI pin, both of which will depend on an AI-powered Siri.

(mki)