Apple is getting serious about strengthening its AI division, with veteran executives known for project management moving to strengthen Apple Intelligence and Siri

Kim Voras, a veteran Apple executive known for fixing problematic products and bringing major projects to market, has been moved to the company's AI division, Bloomberg reports, in a move seen as a sign that Apple is getting serious about strengthening its AI division.

Apple (AAPL) Enlists Company Veteran Kim Vorrath to Help Fix AI, Siri - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-24/apple-enlists-company-veteran-kim-vorrath-to-help-fix-ai-and-siri

Apple makes a change to its AI team and plans Siri upgrades - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/24/24351391/apple-change-ai-team-siri-upgrades-kim-vorrath

According to information obtained exclusively by Bloomberg, Volas, vice president of program management, will be transferred to the AI and machine learning division in the fourth week of January 2025. With this transfer, Volas will become the deputy to John Giannandrea, head of the AI division. Volas, a veteran software engineer with 36 years at Apple, is known for managing the development of difficult software projects and introducing a process for finding and fixing bugs. In recent years, Volas has been involved in the development project of Apple Vision Pro, and has been evaluated as 'bringing sanity and reason to the project and significantly improving the software.'

Regarding Volas' transfer, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman pointed out, 'The move will help bolster Apple's AI division, which is competing to make Apple the market leader in AI. Apple has lagged the tech industry in AI, and it's clear that Apple is struggling to compete with OpenAI, Meta and Google. And Apple's Apple Intelligence has been slow to deploy and has suffered from erratic behavior.'

The 'unstable behavior of Apple Intelligence' that Garman pointed out included cases where Apple Intelligence news summary notifications unintentionally sent false reports. Apple responded to the controversy by removing the feature from the News and Entertainment app in the next software update.

Apple Intelligence falsely reports that the murderer of the CEO of a health insurance company was a suicide, and the BBC strongly protests to Apple, Apple Intelligence summary function creates false information - GIGAZINE

Apple's AI division is also involved in the development of the voice assistant Siri. Siri was a groundbreaking digital assistant when it was announced in 2011, but at the time of writing, it has become a symbol of Apple's lagging behind in the AI market. Startups such as OpenAI are independently developing more feature-rich chatbots, and rival Samsung in the smartphone market has also succeeded in incorporating AI into its software before Apple.

When I tried using the Galaxy AI on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it was so convenient that I was worried I would never be able to go back to life without it - GIGAZINE

Volas managed the software development project for the first iPhone in the mid-2000s and oversaw the management of OS development projects for Apple's flagship products such as the iPhone, iPad, and Mac until 2019. Volas' successor will be Haley Allen, who oversaw program management of visionOS, the operating system for Apple Vision Pro.

Kelsey Peterson, who previously served as project manager for the AI division, will now report directly to Volas. Peterson also consulted with Volas for several weeks while in her role as project manager for the AI division. Other AI executives, Cindy Lin and Mark Schonbrunn, will also report directly to Volas.

An anonymous Apple executive who provided information to Gurman said the move 'indicates that AI is more important than Apple Vision Pro and is considered Apple's biggest challenge.' According to the Apple executive, it has been 'clear for some time' that Giannandrea's AI division needs more help managing projects.

In a memo to employees, Giannandrea said that in 2025, the AI division will focus on revamping Siri's underlying infrastructure and improving its in-house AI models. As part of its AI efforts, Apple has committed to a full overhaul of Siri, and is reportedly aiming to release a new version of Siri in iOS 18.4, scheduled for release in April 2025. However, Garman pointed out that 'Samsung is combining its own technology with Google's Gemini, so even if an improved version of Siri appears, it will not be as good as Samsung's new features.'

Samsung's smartphone 'Galaxy S25 series' can use Google's AI functions and can also perform 'tasks that use multiple apps' - GIGAZINE

Apple is reportedly developing an advanced Siri with a more conversational interface like ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, but Garman noted that this won't be ready until at least 2026. However, a preview version could be released sometime in 2025.