Apple nabs prominent AI executive from rival Google

With a strong determination to advance its artificial intelligence efforts, the iPhone maker Apple (AAPL) appointed a well-known AI executive John Giannandrea from its all-time rival Google. According to The New York Times, Giannandrea taken in as a new executive at Apple comes just a day after he announced his stepping down from the leadership role at Google.

When Apple launched Siri—the intelligence personal voice assistant—back in 2011, it was the first company to offer artificial intelligence service to a wide-range of consumers. But it didn’t succeed in becoming a powerhouse of artificial intelligence and Siri soon became the butt of numerous jokes.

Apple has had immense success with iPhones at its side, but when it comes to the voice wars between Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant- Siri still needs some help in order to match the depth and breadth of both Alexa and Google Assistant. In 2016, the company had hired a big brain to its AI unit- researcher Russ Salakhutdinov- as the director of AI research.

When compared to Google, Amazon, and Facebook (FB), Apple was always considered as the odd man out as it failed to integrate artificial intelligence completely into the company’s software. But with a heap of initiatives and announcements, one can see the company’s severe focus on artificial intelligence.

Apple ensures it does not fall behind its rivals in this hot field. And this time it seems to have hit the jackpot by taking Giannandrea under its wings who will take control of Apple’s machine learning and AI strategy. Giannandrea who joined Google in 2010 was instrumental in integrating AI in most of Google products. He will be one of those few top officials who will report directly to the tech giant’s CEO Tim Cook.