Apple is eyeing an agentic Siri, and it might arrive as early as next year, according to information leaking out of the company.
Siri AI is far more capable than the old assistant, but it still waits for you to ask. Rivals like ChatGPT’s Dots and Meta’s Muse keep working between conversations, and Apple CEO John Ternus reportedly wants to close that gap.
Ternus pushes for an agentic Siri
Apple’s voice assistant recently underwent a major transformation, with the old Classic Siri giving way to the more capable Siri AI. The revamped assistant uses Apple Intelligence to understand conversations better and perform more complicated tasks. It can also draw on personal information and on-screen content to provide more relevant answers.
But despite these improvements, Siri AI remains largely request-based: It waits for you to tell it what to do rather than independently working toward goals in the background. That’s apparently hoping to change.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple CEO John Ternus held a closed-door meeting with software chief Craig Federighi. Ternus asked him to speed up Apple’s AI roadmap and move past mere Siri fixes.
Gurman adds Apple could make Siri “more like an agent” as early as next year and that the company wants to head that way.
Ternus dropped hints on Apple’s recent earnings call. He told analysts that Siri AI is “primarily request-based today”, and added that the new architecture leaves room to grow. He also called agentic tools promising as long as users knew what they’re granting access to.
Rivals already work in the background
Dots, Muse and Grok go way further than Siri. These agentic models can remember projects and preferences, check for changes and even decide when to pause and resume work. And while Siri AI can handle more complex tasks now, it cannot chase goals.
Apple also lacks a computer-use tool. ChatGPT and Claude already have one that can read a screen, move cursor, click buttons and type into apps.
Apple has been dabbling in agent-like features. At WWDC 2026, it demoed a Passwords tool that can find weak or compromised passwords and change them on websites for you.
Gurman said that capability vanished from iOS 27 over the summer, but it’s still listed on Apple’s iOS website as coming later.
iOS 27.3 takes the first step
Apple rolled out iOS 27.3 beta on November 3 with Siri access across 15 apps, including Messages, Photos, Safari, and Mail. Some examples include organizing Safari tabs, unsending an iMessage and enhancing and sharing a photo in one go.
Apple also opened up Siri AI to developers in the same beta, with apps plugging in through App Intents.
Gurman says he expects support for Apple’s own apps to go public as early as December with thew iOS 27.3 release, with third-party support landing sometime in spring.
Just note that Apple hasn’t announced any plans or date for agentic features, so treat the timing as a rumor for now. In the meantime, Siri AI waits for your requests, but that will hopefully soon change.
Anurag Chawake is a tech-focused writer specializing in smartphones, apps and consumer technology. His interest in computers began during the Windows 98 era, eventually leading him to explore everything from operating systems to mobile devices and PC hardware. Anurag previously contributed to The Indian Express, covering Apple, Android, gaming and the broader technology landscape.
