Apple AI Restructuring: Vision Pro Head Mike Rockwell Steps In to Overhaul Siri Team

According to Beating Monitor, at the beginning of 2025, an emergency executive closed-door meeting was convened in a conference room next to Apple’s Software Engineering department, without CEO Tim Cook in attendance. Due to the poor market reception of the first-generation Apple Intelligence, the critical overhaul of Siri was delayed, while competitors like Google and OpenAI were racing ahead. Executive Eddy Cue even warned internally that “AI could disrupt the iPhone business within a decade.” At the time, Cook had lost confidence in then-AI lead John Giannandrea; other executives decided to bypass him entirely and directly discuss solutions, presenting recommendations to Cook. The meeting not only prompted Cook to abandon his long-standing “hands-off” approach and begin personally intervening in and fine-tuning AI development details, but also launched a comprehensive self-rescue and reorganization of Apple’s AI business. During the meeting, Mike Rockwell, who had just led the development of Vision Pro, stepped forward and volunteered to serve as an “AI fire marshal.” Rockwell sought to report directly to Cook and be promoted to Senior Vice President. Software head Craig Federighi fiercely defended his department’s control, insisting that AI operations must remain under Software Engineering. Although Rockwell had briefly considered withdrawing due to his perception that Federighi lacked urgency, he ultimately accepted a compromise: he would become Siri’s lead, reporting to Federighi. Upon assuming the role, Rockwell swiftly purged Siri’s existing leadership and brought in core team members from Vision Pro. On the technical front, he confronted reality: recognizing that Apple’s proprietary models lagged behind industry standards, Rockwell, alongside Federighi and Cue, reached an agreement with competitor Google to directly integrate Google’s Gemini model and Google Cloud technologies to power the new Siri. This自救 strategy involving external models will make its debut at WWDC 2026. Apple will launch a standalone Siri app rivaling ChatGPT and generative photo editing features—completely overturning the executive team’s previous rejection of chatbots and generative image editing. WWDC 2026 will also serve as Cook’s final major public appearance before his official retirement on September 1, handing over leadership to new CEO John Ternus. The success or failure of the new Siri will not only shape the evaluation of Cook’s career legacy but also directly determine the prospects of Ternus’s tenure. Due to underlying AI technology bottlenecks, hardware initiatives—including desktop robots (delayed to 2028), smart displays (delayed to late 2026), and AI glasses (delayed to late 2027)—have all been postponed. The outcome of this restructuring will determine whether Apple can reclaim leadership in the next generation of computing.