As Reuters reported Friday (March 27), Lilian Rincon, who had spent nine years with Google heading its shopping and assistant tools, will now serve as Apple’s vice president of product marketing for AI.
The report noted that Rincon’s hiring is happening as Apple prepares to introduce an updated version of its Siri virtual assistant, reconstructed with Google AI tech.
Apple and Google announced their partnership at the start of the year, saying the next version of Apple’s Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini and cloud tech. These models will help run new features for Siri and other tools that use its Apple Intelligence AI system.
Rincon, who has also worked for Skype and Microsoft, announced her departure from Google last week on her LinkedIn profile, which now lists her job title as “Vice President of Product for Apple AI”:
“From helping build Google Assistant from zero to one to reimagining the future of shopping in the age of AI, it has truly been one of the great privileges of my career.”
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Apple last year named Amar Subramanya, a former Microsoft AI leader and longtime Google engineer who helped build the Gemini Assistant, to serve as vice president of AI.
Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly planning to make other companies’ AI assistants accessible from within Siri, letting users choose which service to query.
This feature, dubbed “Extensions,” will be part of the updated Siri that is due to be part of Apple’s upcoming iOS 27 operating system, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
That report added that Apple already lets Siri tap into OpenAI’s ChatGPT, exclusively. Under the new system, the iPhone would become a more powerful AI platform and give Apple additional revenue from third-party app subscriptions through its App Store, the report said. Per the report, the Extensions feature is not expected to impact Apple and Google’s partnership.
Also last week, Apple announced it would share its AI advancements at its yearly Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which the company will host online June 8-12.
“WWDC26 will spotlight incredible updates for Apple platforms, including AI advancements and exciting new software and development tools,” Apple said in a news release.
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