In the updated Power On newsletter on November 8, Bloomberg's Gorman revealed that Apple’s new CEO, John Tenous, is urging software engineering head Craig Federighi to accelerate AI development and adopt bolder strategies to upgrade Siri into an autonomous AI agent that can perform tasks for users. This urgency contrasts with the relaxed tone Tenous used at last week’s earnings call—where he praised the new version of Siri for finally realizing his long-term vision and expressing “great satisfaction” with the feedback.
But behind closed doors, Tenus knew that Apple was still far behind its competitors. A few weeks earlier, during a closed meeting, he expressed his dissatisfaction that Federici failed to embrace AI as actively as his peers, and demanded further upgrades that go beyond just satisfying Siri.
The curse of an AI skeptic
Between the CEO’s expectations and industry trends, there lies Federici’s long-standing management inertia. He remains regarded as an AI skeptic, concerned about privacy, security, society, and employment impacts; he is accustomed to making decisions personally, engaging in intense debates with opponents, and rejecting opposing proposals based on his familiarity with technical details, which makes it difficult for some employees to influence product direction.
The more difficult issue is the misalignment of pace—he usually plans only for the next 12 to 18 months, while the hardware department is accustomed to planning several years in advance. The two different timelines make it hard to align, slowing down development and reducing the boldness of the initial product. Apple wants to integrate hardware and AI software more tightly; harmonizing these two planning approaches is exactly what Tenous has to tackle. However, Federici isn’t without achievements: last year, after Jannandrea failed to fulfill the Siri promise, it was him who took over and launched a new version of the assistant that worked within a shorter time frame.