Apple's new chief executive is reportedly pressing the company's software leadership to move faster on artificial intelligence. According to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, summarized by 9to5Mac, John Ternus recently held a closed-door meeting with Craig Federighi, the software chief who also took over Apple's AI efforts after the departure of the company's former AI leader last year.
The report says Ternus is frustrated by what he sees as a reluctance to embrace AI with the same urgency as competitors. He is described as having urged Federighi to speed up Apple's software road map and to look beyond making necessary improvements to Siri. Neither Apple nor the executives involved have commented publicly on the account, so the details should be treated as unconfirmed reporting.
Bloomberg also points to how Federighi runs his organization. He is known for taking an especially hands-on role in meetings and major decisions, and for vigorously debating opposing views, using his command of technical detail to defend his own position. Some members of the software engineering and design teams reportedly feel they have limited influence over the direction of products as a result.
Another point raised in the report is planning horizon. Federighi is said to plan software roughly 12 to 18 months ahead, which contrasts with the multi-year road maps that are standard in Apple's hardware engineering. 9to5Mac notes that this is one of the gaps Apple may want to close in the coming years.
The report stresses that there is currently no indication that Federighi is leaving Apple, and says that building a succession plan is a very low priority for him.
Separately, Bloomberg says Mike Rockwell, who created the Vision Pro headset and later led the work on the new Siri as vice president of Siri engineering, continues to seriously consider stepping down. That could mean leaving his role or Apple altogether next year. A departure would come shortly after Rockwell helped bring the revamped Siri to market following a delay of roughly two years, according to the report.
The account follows other recent Bloomberg reporting about how Apple organizes its software work, including a tighter development schedule for next year's operating systems and a push to make Siri behave more like an agent. Taken together, the reports sketch a company that is reassessing how quickly it ships software and AI features under its new leadership. As with all reports based on unnamed sources, Apple has not confirmed any of it.
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