The New York Times reports Apple's AI struggles partly stem from CFO Luca Maestri's decision to significantly reduce a planned GPU purchase increase in early 2023. Despite CEO Tim Cook's approval to double the budget, Maestri cut the increase by more than half, hindering Apple's AI development and forcing reliance on competitors' resources. This decision, alongside internal leadership conflicts, contributed to Apple's slower progress in the AI field compared to rivals like Microsoft and Google.

Prepared by Christopher Adams and reviewed by editorial team.