Apple is undergoing major personnel changes in the team responsible for developing the Siri voice assistant. The department is now led by Mike Rockwell, who previously headed the Vision Pro engineering team. Under his leadership, the company has begun replacing top managers and restructuring workflows. Analysts interpret this as a sign of internal dissatisfaction with the current state of Siri.
According to 9to5Mac, Rockwell is bringing in specialists from his former Vision Pro software development team to lead the overhaul. Ranjit Desai, a key engineer on that project, will now be responsible for Siri’s platform and systems. Olivier Gutknecht is set to oversee the user interface, while Nate Begeman and Tom Duffy will work on the underlying architecture of the voice assistant.
Key Roles Reassigned
In addition to these appointments, Stuart Bowers has been given more authority and is now tasked with improving Siri’s comprehension of user requests. David Winarsky, another experienced team member, will take charge of the speech recognition and voice technology division.
Apple’s decision to make such sweeping changes reflects growing frustration with the pace of Siri’s development, which has long been criticized for lagging behind competitors. As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports, Rockwell may either demote or fully replace existing Siri executives as part of this shift in strategy.
Earlier reports indicated that Apple had allowed the Siri team to use third-party large language models (LLMs) for the first time—an unusual move for the company. While this was attributed to senior executive Craig Federighi, it’s possible that Rockwell also played a role. Regardless of its origin, the decision signals Apple’s intention to rethink how Siri is developed.
Preparing for a Smarter Siri
With ChatGPT, Google Assistant, and Alexa continuing to evolve rapidly, Apple appears ready to take decisive action. If Rockwell’s reorganization proves effective, Siri could soon show significant improvements in speed, speech recognition, and service integration.
Apple has yet to issue any official comments on the matter, notes NIX Solutions. However, signs point to the company preparing a major update to Siri, potentially within the next year or two. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available. If successful, this new chapter could transform Siri into a more capable and genuinely helpful assistant.