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Bye Siri, says Apple AI's last remaining founder

Hey Siri, your dad's gone.

Zoey Chong Reporter
Zoey is CNET's Asia News Reporter based in Singapore. She prefers variety to monotony and owns an Android mobile device, a Windows PC and Apple's MacBook Pro all at the same time. Outside of the office, she can be found binging on Korean variety shows, if not chilling out with a book at a café recommended by a friend.
Zoey Chong
screenshot-siri
Screengrab by KP Ho for CNET

All good things come to an end.

Tom Gruber, the last of three Siri  voice assistant co-founders still at Apple , has retired from his role as head of Siri's Advanced Development group, The Information reported Wednesday.

The 59-year-old will pursue personal interests in photography and ocean conservation, the publication said, citing unnamed sources.

Gruber's departure comes as the Siri group is seeing a major haul in its leadership under new boss John Giannandrea, formerly Google's head of AI and search. Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, with whom Gruber founded the original Siri Inc before it was bought over by Apple in 2010, left the iPhone maker years ago in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

Along with Gruber, head of search Vipul Ved Prakash has also left the company, The Information added.

An Apple spokeswoman confirmed both departures to CNET though she declined to comment.

First published July 18 at 9:27 p.m. PT.
Update, July 19 at 3:02 a.m.: Adds comment from Apple.  

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