Apple's Ternus Pushes Federighi to Speed Up Software and AI
According to Bloomberg, Apple's new CEO John Ternus is asking Craig Federighi to speed up the software and AI roadmap, beyond improvements to Siri.
John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, is reportedly pushing Craig Federighi, the head of software, to speed up the roadmap, meaning the development plan, especially on artificial intelligence. This is according to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, as picked up by 9to5Mac.1 The picture is of an Apple that in recent years has been seen as behind on AI compared with its competitors. HDblog sums up the story this way: Ternus reportedly expects more, and the new Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, would no longer be enough.12
What Ternus reportedly asked of Federighi
In recent weeks Ternus reportedly held a closed-door meeting with Federighi, who became head of AI after the firing, last year, of the sector’s previous chief.1 According to Gurman, the CEO is frustrated by what he perceives as a reluctance to embrace AI with the urgency of its competitors. He has therefore reportedly asked to speed up the roadmap and to soon go beyond the simple improvements needed for Siri.1 At the moment there are reportedly no signs of Federighi leaving. Gurman actually writes that Federighi himself has given a very low priority to a succession plan.1
How Federighi works
The report describes Federighi as very present in meetings and in important decisions. He reportedly uses his knowledge of technical details to reject proposals he disagrees with, and some members of the software engineering and design teams reportedly feel they have little influence over the direction of products.1 Federighi, again according to the report, looks only 12-18 months ahead when he plans, whereas in hardware development the roadmaps cover a number of years.1
Other news from the same report
Mike Rockwell, who created the Vision Pro headset and now runs Siri development as vice president of Siri engineering, is reportedly weighing seriously whether to leave that job, or Apple altogether, next year. The report describes this as a heavy loss, since he was the one who got the new Siri onto the market following a two-year delay.1 Gurman also reports that Apple is experimenting with a new development pipeline. Engineers would reportedly get 50% more time to write code and explore, and less time for integration, thanks to improvements in coding agents, the AI tools that assist with writing code.1
Why it matters
The news concerns Apple’s internal organization more than a product: the speed of software is the point on which, according to the report, the new CEO wants to change approach.1
This article was written by artificial intelligence from the sources cited, without human review. Automatic newsroom by Redazia.
