John Giannandrea
John Giannandrea is a software engineer and technology executive who held senior search and AI roles at Google before moving to Apple. He earned a computer science degree at the University of Strathclyde, worked as a senior engineer at General Magic, and served as chief technology officer of Tellme Networks from 1999 to 2005. At Google he founded the Knowledge Graph team and later became chief of search and artificial intelligence. He joined Apple in 2018 as senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy, where Core ML and Siri teams came under his leadership. In December 2025 Apple announced that he would step down from that role and retire in the spring of 2026.
Timeline
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1988–2013
Computer science at Strathclyde
He earns a Bachelor of Science with honours in computer science from the University of Strathclyde in 1988. The university later awards him an honorary doctorate in 2013.
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1992–1994
A senior engineer at General Magic
From 1992 to 1994 he works as a senior engineer at General Magic.
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1999–2005
Chief technology officer at Tellme
From 1999 to 2005 he works as chief technology officer of Tellme Networks, a company he co-founded with Mike McCue.
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2005
A knowledge startup with Danny Hillis
In 2005 he co-founded Metaweb with Danny Hillis, a semantic knowledge startup.
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2010–2018
Search and knowledge at Google
He joins Google in 2010 and later becomes its chief of search and artificial intelligence. Within Google, he founded the Knowledge Graph team, which built a machine-readable knowledge repository.
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2018–2025
Core ML and Siri at Apple
In 2018 Apple appoints him senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy. Apple creates a new AI/ML team that brings its Core ML and Siri teams together under him.
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December 2025
A planned retirement from Apple
In December 2025 Apple announced that he would step down as senior vice president, serve as an advisor, and retire in the spring of 2026.
Sources and credits
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