Apple now has a head of machine learning and AI strategies

In early April, we reported that John Giannandrea was hired by Apple to domestically lead everything related to Siri. Today, just over three months later, Apple has shown that it has already rearranged the house.

John Giannandrea on Apple's leadership page

Upon entering the company's Leadership page, we see that Giannandrea now appears as head of machine learning (machine learning, or MI) / artificial intelligence strategies (artificial intelligence, or AI). This, in practice, means that the MI / AI and Siri teams are now working under the supervision of the new executive, who reports to CEO Tim Cook before, Siri was under the command of Craig Federighi, chief operating officer of Ma .

Taking into account the importance of artificial intelligence for some Apple services / products, it makes a lot of sense to have a boss like Giannandrea, with extensive experience (he has spent the past eight years leading Google's AI efforts) at the helm of both teams. Under his leadership, Apple will continue to build its ML / AI teams and focus on general cloud computing, along with data processing on the device itself (something Apple exploits extensively to keep users' privacy intact).

Before working at Google, Giannandrea co-founded two technology companies, Tellme Networks and Metaweb Technologies. Early in his career, he was a senior engineer at General Magic after graduating from Strathclyde University in Glasgow (Scotland), where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in Computer Science and received a Doctorate Honoris Causa. John serves on the board of trustees of the SETI Institute and the School of Castilleja.

As a curiosity, General Magic was a company founded by members of the Apple team in 1989, including Andy Hertzfeld, Marc Porat and Bill Atkinson. Although it was a failure, it generated technological innovations, including tiny touch screens and modem software, as reported by TechCrunch. General Magic has also served as an incubator / employer for talented people who have worked for Apple, such as Susan Kare, Tony Fadell, Andy Rubin, Megan Smith and current vice president of technologies Kevin Lynch.