Apple Hires Google’s A.I. Chief, John Giannandrea

Jack Nicas and Cade Metz, reporting for The New York Times:

Apple has hired Google’s chief of search and artificial intelligence, John Giannandrea, a major coup in its bid to catch up to the artificial intelligence technology of its rivals.

Apple said on Tuesday that Mr. Giannandrea will run Apple’s “machine learning and A.I. strategy,” and become one of 16 executives who report directly to Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook.

Now this is some news that clearly shows Apple is getting more serious about Siri. “Google’s chief of search and artificial intelligence” sounds like the single best possible person in the world Apple could hire to make Siri what it needs to be. I think it’s important too that Giannandrea reports directly to Cook. If it works out, we’ll probably look back at this as one of the most significant Apple executive hires ever.

★ Tuesday, 3 April 2018