Top Apple AI Executive Reportedly Leaving the Company

Apple’s senior director of the Answers, Information, and Knowledge teams, Robby Walker, is reportedly leaving the company next month, Bloomberg reports. The reason for his departure is unknown.

Walker is one of Apple’s top AI experts and among several who have recently chosen to leave the company. In July, Apple lost a few high-level AI employees to Meta, according to Bloomberg. These events certainly do not paint a positive picture for Apple, which has been criticized for its slow AI progress.

For example, the company’s proprietary AI intelligence system, Apple Intelligence, has fallen behind rivals such as Google. While Google’s Gemini Live conversational chatbot has already been available for some time, Apple’s AI overhaul to Siri has been delayed until next year. Walker had previously been in charge of Siri before moving to lead AI development.

Apple initially focused on developing AI entirely in-house, emphasizing user privacy and control over data. However, rising pressure to integrate AI features has pushed the company to explore partnerships with external AI firms.

Apple already has a few active AI partnerships, including one with OpenAI, with its chatbot ChatGPT powering select Apple Intelligence features. In China, regulatory constraints led Apple to team up with Alibaba. The company will reportedly utilize the Chinese giant’s Qwen AI models to integrate advanced AI features into local iPhones.

Apple is reportedly exploring more AI partnerships to catch up with the competition. The company has been in talks with Anthropic to use its models for powering future versions of Siri. There have also been reports that Apple is considering offering Google’s Gemini and Meta’s Llama models alongside its other AI tools.

To further strengthen its position in the AI landscape, some reports suggest Apple has considered buying Perplexity AI, an AI-powered conversational search engine. Still, the road to AI leadership seems to be filled with setbacks for Apple, especially with the loss of top AI minds. It remains to be seen whether the company can catch up with rivals after lagging for quite some time.