In what is a testament to the seriousness of its oncoming, all-encompassing AI push, Apple has just staged a mini coup of sorts by poaching one of Google's star executives to lead its AI marketing efforts.
Apple poaches Google VP Lilian Rincon to spearhead AI marketing
Apple has hired Google's VP of product marketing, Lilian Rincon, to head product marketing and management for all of Apple's AI platforms. Of course, we'll likely get a first glimpse of Apple's overarching AI-related marketing plans at its upcoming WWDC 2026 in June.
Do note that Apple's poaching of Rincon is currently being perceived as something of a coup, especially given the ex-Google exec's star credentials. Consider the fact that Rincon has worked on Google Assistant and, more recently, served as a director of product management in the Google Shopping division, managing to win plaudits in both of these positions.
This comes as Apple is planning huge AI-related changes with the upcoming iOS 27, which appears all set to expand Siri's integration with a number of third-party AI agents, and is expected to culminate in the launch of a completely revamped chatbot Siri that will run on Google's own TPUs and cloud infrastructure, albeit under Apple's ownership. The iPhone manufacturer insists that the arrangement would not result in a change in Apple's stringent privacy-related safeguards.
According to the previous tidbits by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the Siri chatbot will be baked into Apple's software, allowing it to leverage personal data, perform in-app actions, search the web, generate content, including images, provide coding assistance, summarize and analyze information, as well as upload files.
Apple is also designing a feature that will let the Siri chatbot view open windows and on-screen content, along with adjusting device features and settings.
The chatbot Siri will reportedly leverage a much more advanced version of Google's Gemini model, known internally as Apple Foundation Models version 11. According to Gurman, "the model is expected to be competitive with Gemini 3 and significantly more capable" than the one supporting the revamped Siri.
Additionally, Siri will no longer be accessible solely via voice commands. Instead, Apple is debuting a dedicated Siri app with iOS 27, which would serve as a central repository of all past conversations with the AI assistant.
Also, while users can still activate Siri via voice commands or the power button, Apple is testing a new interface that resides within the Dynamic Island. Finally, Apple is attempting to replace its "Spotlight" search function with Siri, allowing for a unified search-related UI. The new search interface will continue to show "Siri Suggestions," which would span across apps, upcoming appointments, and changes to settings suggested by AI.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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