According to sources, Robby Walker, a senior executive in Apple's artificial intelligence and search business, will leave the company next month. Walker's departure has once again raised concerns about Apple's future in the field of artificial intelligence and intensified market doubts about its ability to successfully transform.

Apple

Walker was one of the key figures in Apple's AI department, directly reporting to John Giannandrea, Apple's head of artificial intelligence. He was long responsible for Apple's voice assistant, Siri, but after multiple delays in product updates, the management of Siri was transferred to Craig Federighi, the software chief, earlier this year. After that, Walker led the "Answers, Information, and Knowledge" team, working on developing an AI-driven search system that competes with Perplexity and ChatGPT, which is planned to be launched next year.

Walker's departure continues a trend of talent loss within Apple's AI department. Previously, Pang Ruoming, the former head of Apple's foundational model team, and Frank Chu, a search executive, had moved to Meta, taking many researchers with them.

Analysts point out that these personnel changes highlight the uncertainty of Apple's transformation in artificial intelligence. With competitors like Google and Microsoft making significant progress in the AI field, Apple's talent loss may weaken its competitiveness in the future AI market, deepening market concerns about whether it can keep up with industry trends.