Apple hires ex-Google executive to lead AI marketing push

Apple has hired former Google executive Lilian Rincon as vice president of product marketing for artificial intelligence (AI), signaling a stronger push into the rapidly evolving AI race.

Rincon, who spent nearly a decade at Google, will report to Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Greg Joswiak. 

Her appointment comes as the iPhone maker prepares a major overhaul of its virtual assistant, Siri.

At Google, Rincon led global product efforts for shopping experiences and played a key role in integrating AI into consumer-facing tools. She also contributed to the development of Google Assistant, helping scale it from an early-stage product to a widely used platform.

Apple’s hiring underscores its urgency to catch up with rivals as AI becomes central to the tech industry’s next phase. 

The company is reportedly rebuilding Siri with more advanced capabilities, including conversational responses, improved contextual understanding, and the ability to perform multi-step tasks.

The revamped assistant is expected to incorporate technology linked to Gemini, part of Alphabet’s growing AI portfolio. 

Apple is also said to be exploring integrations with third-party AI systems such as Claude to enhance flexibility and performance.

Internally, Apple is working to transform Siri into a chatbot-style interface capable of interacting more fluidly with apps and on-screen content — a shift seen as critical to its broader AI strategy.

Rincon’s experience in blending AI with user-focused products is expected to play a key role in shaping how Apple positions its next-generation AI tools to consumers.

Her appointment highlights Apple’s increasing focus not just on building AI capabilities, but also on clearly communicating their value as competition intensifies across the industry.