Bloomberg: more than forty AI specialists left Apple in a month — including Siri division head Stuart Bowers
Apple has faced another loss of key employees: top Siri executive and one of the heads of AI directions, Stuart Bowers, has left the company. His departure was part of a broader wave of resignations affecting multiple teams working on AI technologies and Siri development.
What is known
According to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, along with Bowers, Apple lost at least four leading AI researchers who moved to competing companies — Google DeepMind and Meta. Some specialists, including Yinfei Yang, Chaoxuan Yu, Bailin Wang, have already started work in new teams, and one of them — Zirui Wang — founded his own startup.
These personnel changes are happening amid a large-scale restructuring within Apple and the preparation of major Siri updates. The company is developing two new versions of the voice assistant, including a more personalized modification, based on Google Gemini models, which is expected to appear in iOS 26.4.
Why it matters
The departure of Bowers and other specialists highlights the growing competition for AI talent and increases pressure on Apple, which seeks to accelerate the development of its own AI technologies. Experts note that the company is experiencing one of the most serious brain drains in the AI field in recent years. In the long term, this could lead to a major crisis, as despite Apple's successes in gadgets and services (as indicated by the latest financial report), the American company faces enormous difficulties in AI technology development, and without top-notch specialists, the situation will become even more acute.
Photo of Stuart Bowers. Source: Apple
Mark Gurman notes that just in the past month, OpenAI has poached about 40 Apple engineers. Among them are experts in industrial design and interface design. Meanwhile, Bowers' departure is particularly symbolic, as he will work on Google Gemini models, which will serve as the foundation for the anticipated "smart" Siri. Thus, the specialist who was supposed to strengthen Apple's own product will now strengthen a key competitor.
Source: Bloomberg