Following the announcement of his retirement in 2025, Giannandrea’s role as head of Apple Intelligence was scaled back to that of an advisor, and he is now expected to leave Apple Park in the near future, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
In corporate terms, employees who serve their notice period at home are said to be on “gardening leave,” while those who remain at work awaiting the vesting of stock-based compensation are often described as being in a “rest and vest” phase.
Reports suggest that the stock options included in Giannandrea’s contract when he joined Apple in 2018 are set to vest on April 15. According to Bloomberg’s “Power On” newsletter, his departure is likely to take place around that date.
Giannandrea previously worked at Google, where he led the company’s artificial intelligence development efforts. After moving to Apple, he was tasked with advancing key initiatives, including improvements to Siri and work related to the Apple Car project.
"Our technology must be infused with the values we all hold dear," Cook said at the time. "John shares our commitment to privacy and our thoughtful approach as we make computers even smarter and more personal."
Over the following years, it appeared that Giannandrea's responsibilities grew extensively, even as the Apple Car was abandoned. It was said that he concentrated on Apple's backend Machine Learning and AI features and not so much on Siri, though.
That resulted in March 2025 when control of Siri was taken away from Giannandrea. It went to Mike Rockwell, previously best known for his work on the Apple Vision Pro, and he was to report directly to Craig Federighi.
Then when Giannandrea's retirement was decided on, whether by him or Apple, his role was almost completely eradicated. Responsibilities such as AI foundation models, and AI testing, were divided between Federighi, Eddy Cue, and COO Sabih Khan.
This sounds as if Giannandrea was seen inside Apple as a failure, but it was his work that still seems to drive Apple's ambitions in AI.
What does appear to have happened, though, is that he was left with just an advisory role after his resignation. That situation has so far continued from December 2025, but it's not known how much advising he has done.
It's also not clear whether Apple will want him to continue advising. What is certain is that Apple's next vesting date is April 15, and it's likely that this is when Giannandrea will hand over his pass at Apple Park.
