Photo: Amy Osborne / European Union / Wikimedia Commons / CC0
CUPERTINO, Calif. – Apple CEO John Ternus reportedly pressed software chief Craig Federighi in a closed-door meeting in recent weeks to speed up the company’s artificial intelligence plans and make Siri more of an autonomous agent, according to a report on Monday. Apple has not commented, and the details have not been confirmed by the company.
The same report said Mike Rockwell, who leads Siri engineering, is reportedly weighing stepping down, possibly next year. That is unconfirmed, and no departure has been announced. It follows our earlier report on Apple’s Siri AI plans.
Context: Federighi’s software group reportedly plans 12 to 18 months ahead, compared with multiyear horizons for hardware. That gap is part of why the reported push on AI timing matters inside the company.
Why it matters: Siri’s direction is central to how Apple competes in AI assistants, and a change in the leader of Siri engineering would affect that work. Still unknown: whether Rockwell will leave, what Apple will change in its AI roadmap, and when any new Siri features would arrive.
Photo: Ternus in a file image from May 2026. It does not show the meeting described.
JBizNews Desk | Cupertino, California
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