Article · AI translation
Thanks to IT Home readers Nuc_F and 不一样的体验 for the tips!
IT Home reported on November 8 that Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman disclosed in the Power On newsletter updated this evening (the 8th) that Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, has urged software engineering chief Craig Federighi to accelerate the development of its AI business and adopt a bolder strategy. The goal is to upgrade Siri into an AI agent capable of independently completing tasks for users.
On last week’s earnings call, Ternus sounded quite optimistic about Apple’s AI business. Discussing the new Siri, he was especially confident: Apple had finally realized a vision it had held for years, and its AI business had entered a new chapter. “We’re very pleased with the reviews and feedback we’ve received, and very happy to see more and more users able to experience it.”
Inside Apple, however, Ternus has taken a very different stance. He knows the company still trails its competitors by a wide margin. In recent weeks, Ternus held a closed-door meeting with Federighi, who took over Apple’s AI business from its former AI chief last year.
Ternus wants Apple to do more in AI and is dissatisfied that Federighi has not embraced it as actively as competitors have. He therefore asked Federighi to speed up development and not settle for merely delivering the necessary upgrades to Siri.
Federighi is still regarded as an AI skeptic, concerned about its effects on privacy, security, society and employment. But both Federighi and Apple have no choice but to confront an industry landscape that has already changed.
Faced with the AI wave led by companies including OpenAI, Meta, Google and Anthropic, Apple no longer has the same ability it once had to stay on the sidelines.
Longstanding management problems in Apple’s software division have also come under scrutiny. Federighi tends to participate personally in meetings and major decisions, and some employees believe this management style makes it difficult for dissenting views to gain support. He also frequently engages in heated debates with people who disagree with him, using his familiarity with technical details and strong debating skills to rebut proposals he does not support.
IT Home learned from the report that this approach sometimes frustrates members of the software engineering and design teams. Some feel they have little ability to influence the final direction of products.
Federighi’s preference for short-term planning is another issue. He typically makes plans only 12 to 18 months ahead, while Apple’s hardware division is accustomed to planning products years in advance. The two approaches can sometimes be difficult to coordinate, slowing product development and potentially resulting in first-generation products whose features and designs are not bold enough.
Apple wants to integrate hardware and AI software development more closely, so coordinating the two divisions’ planning approaches will be an important task for Ternus. Although Apple remains an industry leader in hardware design and engineering, software development has not always kept pace with its hardware.
Even so, Federighi is capable of solving problems that other executives struggle to handle. Last year, after Apple found that former AI chief John Giannandrea could not deliver on the company’s promises for Siri, it put Federighi in charge of development instead. He then released a functioning new version of the assistant in a relatively short time.