File photo: Robby Walker, one of Apple’s senior AI leaders, is leaving the company. | Photo: AP
Robby Walker, one of Apple’s senior artificial intelligence leaders, is leaving the company, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Walker’s exit comes as Apple’s cautious approach to AI has sparked concerns that it is in the midst of what could be the industry’s biggest growth wave in decades.
The company has been slowly rolling out its Apple Intelligence Suite, including CHATGPT integration, while the long-awaited AI upgrade to Siri has been delayed until next year.
Walker has been the senior director of the iPhone maker’s Answers, Information, and Knowledge team since April of this year. He has been with Apple since 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He plans to leave Apple next month, the report said. Walker was in charge of Siri until earlier this year, before leadership of the voice assistant was transferred to software chief Craig Federighi.
Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Apple has recently seen a number of its AI leaders leave to join meta-platforms. The list includes Ruoming Pang, Apple’s top executive in charge of AI models, according to a Bloomberg report from July.
Meta has also hired two other Apple AI researchers, Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, who worked closely with Pang, to its Superintelligence Labs team.
Mike Rockwell, the vice president in charge of the Vision Products Group, would be in charge of the Siri virtual assistant because CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in AI chief John Giannandrea’s ability to execute on product development, Bloomberg reported in March.
At its annual product launch event last week, Apple introduced a revamped iPhone line alongside a thinner iPhone Air and defended itself against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs that have hurt the company’s profits.
The event, however, was about evidence of how Apple – a laggard in the AI race – is closing the gap with the likes of Google, which has shown off the capabilities of its Gemini AI model in its latest flagship phones.
Published – September 13, 2025 10:49 AM IST
