Sometime in early 2025, Apple's most senior executives squeezed into a conference room near Craig Federighi's software engineering wing to face an uncomfortable truth—Apple Intelligence was flopping, the big Siri overhaul was about to slip, and rivals from OpenAI to Google had quietly run laps around Cupertino. Tim Cook wasn't in the room. Then-COO Jeff Williams called the meeting to order. By the time everyone walked out, Apple had started drafting the recommendation that would eventually push the world's most secretive hardware company into Google's arms.The account comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who detailed the meeting in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter ahead of WWDC 2026.Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell emerged as the unlikely fixer in that room. Passionate about AI, he volunteered to take over Siri and the wider effort. Cook had reportedly lost confidence in then-AI chief John Giannandrea, who was sitting at the same table. Federighi and now-hardware chief Johny Srouji backed Rockwell for the Siri job.Why Mike Rockwell didn't get the AI crown he wanted at AppleThe handover wasn't clean. Rockwell thought he was signing up to lead all of Apple AI, reporting directly to Cook. Federighi pushed back. He wanted software engineering to keep Siri and AI under its roof, with Rockwell reporting to him. Rockwell briefly walked away, telling colleagues Federighi had been slow to take AI seriously. He eventually accepted. Giannandrea was stripped of most of his portfolio and left this year. Former Google and Microsoft executive Amar Subramanya was later hired to run AI models and research under Federighi.The Google Gemini deal that ended Apple's AI isolationOnce installed, Rockwell concluded Siri's leadership was subpar and Apple's in-house models trailed the industry. With Federighi and services chief Eddy Cue, he helped negotiate a deal to power Siri with Google's Gemini models and Google Cloud—a remarkable concession from a company that prefers to build its own silicon and software stack. Apple may swing back to its own models eventually, Gurman writes, but Gemini will do the heavy lifting at launch.Cook, normally hands-off on product roadmaps, got personally involved after the Apple Intelligence flop. He delivered an internal AI pep talk and began making feature calls himself. Federighi, who previously dismissed the need for chatbots and AI apps, has reversed course. On Monday, he takes the WWDC 2026 stage to unveil iOS 27, a chatbot-style Siri, and a standalone Siri app pitched as a ChatGPT rival.It will also be Cook's final WWDC as CEO. John Ternus takes over on September 1.