Apple Accelerates Siri AI Agent Development to Compete With OpenAI and Meta

Apple Pushes to Transform Siri Into Agentic AI Assistant

Apple is accelerating development of Siri to transform it into a more agentic AI assistant, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman1

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. CEO John Ternus is pressuring AI chief Craig Federighi to accelerate the software roadmap and deliver a powerful AI agent that can compete with OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse1

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. While Federighi delivered a functional version of Siri AI on an incredibly short timeline, the company recognizes it's not keeping pace with rivals in the agentic AI space1

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The strategic AI developments reflect mounting pressure from current consumer and market demands. Apple wants Siri to become more like an agent as early as next year, enabling it to keep track of goals, determine what needs to happen next, and continue pursuing objectives without users initiating every individual step2

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Third-Party App Integration Coming in Spring 2027

Two significant improvements are expected to roll out to Siri in coming months. The first enhancement will give the assistant fine-grained control over Apple's first-party apps, allowing it to perform complex tasks like rotating and cropping images in Photos and organizing Safari tabs1

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. These capabilities are expected to land with iOS 27.31

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The bigger change involves integration with third-party apps, likely arriving in Spring 20271

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. This would enable Siri to place orders through Grubhub or book dinner reservations through OpenTable, expanding its ability to autonomously handle tasks across the iOS ecosystem1

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. Apple has significant potential to compete in this space given frameworks like App Intents built over the years2

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. With these frameworks, Apple hypothetically wouldn't need to depend on as much computer-use ability, making certain tasks less expensive to execute2

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Proactive Capabilities and Ongoing Task Management

Apple's ambitions extend beyond one-off task completion. The company is pushing Siri to develop proactive capabilities that enable it to perform ongoing tasks rather than just individual actions1

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. This positions Apple to compete directly with Meta's Muse and OpenAI agents that have their own virtual machines and can proactively handle tasks in the background before delivering results2

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While Siri AI is much more intelligent and personalized compared to classic Siri, it still lags behind always-on agents like Dots and Muse3

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. The exact implementation of Siri more like an agent remains to be seen, but the direction is clear3

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Apple Restructures iOS 28 Development Process

To support faster innovation, Apple is experimenting with a new engineering pipeline for iOS 28 development. For the M1 milestone, Apple shifted from the normal split of two four-week efforts to six weeks of coding, exploration and feature development, followed by only two weeks of convergence2

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. Employees have responded positively to the change, indicating it creates more time for generating and exploring ideas before locking them in2

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. This process change was likely driven by massive advances in agentic coding tools over the past couple years2

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In a closed-door meeting in recent weeks, Ternus told Federighi that Apple needs to accelerate its software roadmap and move quickly beyond merely making necessary improvements to Siri3

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. This internal pressure signals Apple's recognition that it must act decisively to remain competitive in the rapidly evolving agentic AI assistant landscape.