Apple is accelerating the development of its Siri digital assistant, aiming to give it more "agentic" capabilities that allow it to control first-party applications and perform tasks more autonomously. This push comes as the company faces pressure to keep pace with rivals in the artificial intelligence space.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman reported that Apple CEO John Ternus has urged software engineering chief Craig Federighi to speed up the company's AI roadmap. Ternus has expressed concern that Apple is falling behind competitors like OpenAI and Meta in AI development. While Apple has recently introduced more personalized Siri features and expanded its ability to interact with apps through the iOS 27.3 developer beta, the company's leadership reportedly wants to move beyond incremental improvements. The goal is to create an assistant that can manage ongoing tasks and pursue objectives without constant user prompting, similar to agents like OpenAI's Dots or Meta's Muse.
The enhanced control over first-party apps is expected to begin rolling out with iOS 27.3, allowing Siri to perform actions such as rotating and cropping images in Photos or organizing Safari tabs. Third-party app integration is also planned for a later release. These updates are part of Apple's broader strategy to weave AI capabilities invisibly into its operating system and devices, rather than focusing on standalone chatbot applications.
The development of a more agentic Siri is estimated by some reports to arrive as early as 2027, potentially with iOS 28. This timeline is an estimate and not a confirmed launch date from Apple. The company has not publicly announced plans for an autonomous Siri agent. Privacy and security remain key considerations for Apple as it develops these more advanced capabilities, particularly concerning the level of access an assistant would need to perform tasks across multiple applications. Apple's existing App Intents framework is seen as a foundational technology that could enable Siri to call system APIs directly, offering potential advantages in efficiency and privacy over competitors that rely on cloud-based virtual machines.
The company is also reportedly experimenting with its internal development processes, allocating more time for coding and exploration in the development cycle for iOS 28. This change, potentially enabled by AI coding tools, aims to increase innovation and speed up the delivery of new features. However, Federighi, who oversees Apple's AI efforts, has historically expressed caution regarding AI's privacy and security implications, adding a layer of internal debate to the accelerated development push.