In early 2025, Apple's top executives gathered in a conference room near Craig Federighi's software engineering division to confront a harsh reality: Apple Intelligence was failing, the major Siri overhaul was slipping behind schedule, and competitors like OpenAI and Google were outpacing Cupertino. Tim Cook was absent from the meeting, which was called by then-COO Jeff Williams. By the meeting's end, Apple began drafting a recommendation that would ultimately lead the secretive hardware company to partner with Google.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter ahead of WWDC 2026, Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell emerged as an unexpected fixer. Passionate about artificial intelligence, he volunteered to take over Siri and the broader AI effort. Cook had reportedly lost confidence in then-AI chief John Giannandrea, who was present at the meeting. Federighi and hardware chief Johny Srouji backed Rockwell for the Siri role.
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The transition was not smooth. Rockwell believed he would lead all of Apple AI, reporting directly to Cook. Federighi opposed this, insisting that software engineering retain control over Siri and AI, with Rockwell reporting to him. Rockwell briefly walked away, telling colleagues that Federighi had been slow to take AI seriously. Eventually, he accepted the arrangement. Giannandrea was stripped of most responsibilities and left the company this year. Former Google and Microsoft executive Amar Subramanya was later hired to oversee AI models and research under Federighi.
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Once in charge, Rockwell concluded that Siri's leadership was substandard and Apple's in-house models lagged behind the industry. Alongside Federighi and services chief Eddy Cue, he helped negotiate a deal to power Siri with Google's Gemini models and Google Cloud—a significant concession from a company that prefers to develop its own silicon and software. Apple may eventually return to its own models, Gurman notes, but Gemini will handle the heavy lifting at launch.
Cook, typically hands-off on product roadmaps, became personally involved after the Apple Intelligence failure. He delivered an internal AI pep talk and began making feature decisions himself. Federighi, who previously dismissed the need for chatbots and AI apps, has reversed course. On Monday, he will take the WWDC 2026 stage to unveil iOS 27, a chatbot-style Siri, and a standalone Siri app positioned as a ChatGPT rival.
This will also be Cook's final WWDC as CEO, as John Ternus takes over on September 1.
