Apple 'Completely Screwed Up' AI, Giannandrea Hire Called Tim Cook's Biggest Mistake [Gurman]

Apple's push into artificial intelligence has been "completely screwed up," with the 2018 hiring of John Giannandrea standing as the "biggest mistake" of Tim Cook's tenure, according to Mark Gurman.



Speaking on The Best Podcast Network, Gurman argued that Apple squandered an early lead with Siri after its 2011 debut, saying the assistant later stagnated and became "utter junk" as competitors such as Google Assistant and Alexa "lapped" it. He attributed the decline to leadership decisions, saying Apple "thought they had a coup" bringing Giannandrea over from Google but ultimately ended up "hiring the wrong people and entrusting the wrong people."


Gurman's comments follow Apple's December announcement that Giannandrea is stepping down, with responsibilities split across multiple executives. Gurman says one of the biggest beneficiaries is John Ternus, who he described as the "only guy" positioned to eventually replace Cook as CEO.

Gurman framed the succession logic as largely mathematical. Ternus is 50, while most of Apple's top executives are in their late 50s through mid-60s. With Cook turning 66 this year, Gurman argued the board is unlikely to appoint another CEO who is already near retirement age. He added that Apple still generates the majority of its revenue from hardware, calling Ternus "the hardware guy" and a "steady hand."

As evidence, Gurman pointed to recent internal changes. He said Ternus took full control of the Apple Watch engineering team, absorbed robotics projects previously overseen by Giannandrea, and has also taken over leadership of Apple's design organization, giving him oversight of both hardware and software aesthetics.

The interview also shed light on Apple's AI partnerships. While the company has confirmed a Google Gemini deal for upcoming Siri features, Gurman said it was not Apple's original plan. He claimed Apple initially intended to rebuild Siri around Anthropic's Claude models, but negotiations fell apart after Anthropic sought "several billion dollars a year" with a price that "doubled on an annual basis" for roughly three years.


Despite that consumer-facing deal collapsing, Gurman said Apple uses Anthropic internally for product development and employee tooling, including custom versions of Claude running on Apple's own servers. He also said Apple relies on OpenAI for certain features, noting that some image-generation capabilities are powered by ChatGPT.

Looking ahead, Gurman argued that the App Store and the current iOS experience are already "legacy features," saying users will increasingly move away from jumping between apps and toward "AI agents" that can complete multi-step tasks across the system. He said Apple's next Siri update, expected later this year, will mark an early step toward that shift.

Take a look at the video interview below...

.@markgurman explains why John Ternus is the "only guy" that could become the next CEO of Apple:

"All signs are turning towards Ternus."

"Ternus is 50. Everyone else on the Apple executive team is late 50s through their mid 60s. Turning 66 this year, in the case of Tim Cook.… pic.twitter.com/QUeThufyOf

— TBPN (@tbpn) January 29, 2026

Bloomberg's @markgurman says iOS and the App Store are already legacy features, and that AI agents are the future of Apple's software:

"The AI agent-ification of iOS is happening."

"Apps are the past. AI agents are already here, and that's the move forward."

"AI agents are… pic.twitter.com/W5xuXfSfhP

— TBPN (@tbpn) January 29, 2026

Bloomberg's @markgurman says that even though Apple partnered with Google Gemini for Siri, they actually run their business on Anthropic.

"Apple runs on Anthropic at this point. Anthropic is powering a lot of the stuff Apple's doing internally in terms of product development and… pic.twitter.com/NpW0Pyj03J

— TBPN (@tbpn) January 29, 2026

Bloomberg's @markgurman says hiring John Giannandrea to lead Apple's AI team has been the biggest mistake of Tim Cook's career at Apple:

"In 2018, they hired John Giannandrea. He was this high flyer at Google. He ran AI in search, and Apple thought they would hire this guy and… pic.twitter.com/pcbfrZ8Vsz

— TBPN (@tbpn) January 29, 2026