Who is Amar Subramanya tasked with fixing Apple's AI problems?
What's the story
Apple has announced a major leadership change in its artificial intelligence (AI) division. The tech giant has appointed Indian-origin researcher Amar Subramanya as the new Vice President of AI. He will be taking over from John Giannandrea, who has been at the helm of Apple's AI initiatives since 2018. Giannandrea is slated to retire next spring but will continue to serve as an adviser during this transition period.
Professional journey
Subramanya's experience and academic background
Subramanya has a wealth of experience in the tech industry. He was most recently Microsoft's corporate vice president of AI after a 16-year stint at Google where he was the head of engineering for Gemini assistant. Subramanya holds a BE in electrical, electronics, and communications engineering from Bangalore University (2001) and a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle (2009). His dissertation focused on semi-supervised learning and graphical models—techniques for training AI systems with limited labeled data.
Research impact
Subramanya's contributions to AI research
Subramanya has made significant contributions to AI research, including speech recognition, natural language processing, and human activity analysis. He was awarded the prestigious Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship in 2007 for his work on multi-sensory fusion for robust speech systems and speaker verification. He is also the co-author of "Graph-Based Semi-Supervised Learning" with Partha Pratim Talukdar and has published numerous papers on entity resolution, multilingual Natural Language Processing (NLP), cross-document coreference, and audio-visual speech enhancement.
New responsibilities
Subramanya's role at Apple
At Apple, Subramanya will be responsible for key areas such as Apple foundation models and machine learning research. He will report directly to Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering. The responsibilities previously held by Giannandrea will now be shared among Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan and Services Chief Eddy Cue.
Strategic shift
Apple's AI strategy and future plans
Apple has been criticized for its slow progress in the AI race, especially with its voice assistant Siri. However, the company is now doubling down on its AI strategy with Subramanya's appointment. Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed confidence in Subramanya's expertize to strengthen the company's AI roadmap.