A.I.

Apple's messy AI win

What looked like falling behind now looks smart: Apple skipped the AI arms race and the massive spending that comes with it

ByJackie Snow

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Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A version of this article originally appeared in Quartz’s AI & Tech newsletter. Sign up here to get the latest AI & tech news, analysis and insights straight to your inbox.

Apple's AI efforts have been a mess. The company that once defined consumer technology spent 2025 playing catch-up, delaying promised Siri features and relying on Google's Gemini to fill gaps in its own Apple Intelligence platform. Wall Street punished the stock through the first half of the year as investors worried the iPhone maker had missed the defining technology shift of the decade.

Then the executive departures started. In one week this month, AI chief John Giannandrea retired after delays made his position untenable, the head of interface design left for Meta, and the company announced retirements for its general counsel and environmental chief. Dozens of engineers have bolted for competitors. 

OpenAI acquired Jony Ive's design studio for more than $6 billion and has since hired dozens more Apple engineers. Meta used massive compensation........

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