The rebuilt Siri AI is barely two months old, and Apple's new chief executive already wants the next one. In his Power On newsletter on Sunday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that CEO John Ternus held a closed-door meeting with software chief Craig Federighi in recent weeks and told him to "accelerate" Apple's software roadmap and "move quickly beyond merely making necessary improvements to Siri." Ternus, Gurman writes, is frustrated by what he sees as a reluctance to embrace AI with the same urgency as competitors.

The destination isn't a better voice assistant — it's an agent. Gurman says he was told Apple could make Siri function "more like an agent" as early as next year: "Dots, Muse and Grok can keep track of goals, determine what needs to happen next and continue pursuing objectives without the user initiating every individual step." The comparison points are OpenAI's Dots, Meta's Muse, and xAI's Grok Bot — assistants that keep working toward a goal instead of waiting to be asked at every step. Today's Siri AI, which shipped in beta with iOS 27 on September 14, is more personal and more capable than classic Siri, but it still waits for instructions.

The plumbing is already moving that way. The iOS 27.3 beta, released November 3, opened Siri AI to developers through app skills, with support in Apple's own apps expected as early as December and third-party App Intents following in a spring preview. Apple is also reworking how it builds software: for iOS 28's first milestone, engineers reportedly got six weeks to code and two to converge, versus the usual four-and-four split. On Apple's November 2 earnings call, Ternus called agentic AI capabilities "promising." This report suggests he meant it as a directive, not a compliment.

The risk is the people. Mike Rockwell, who took over Siri in March 2025 and shipped the rebuild after a two-year delay, "continues to seriously consider" stepping down as Siri chief — or leaving Apple altogether — next year. Losing the executive who delivered the current Siri just as Apple pivots to the next one would be a blow.

A note of caution: this is reporting about intentions, not an announcement, and AppleInsider argues the report contradicts itself in places. What to watch: whether December's Siri actions in Apple's own apps arrive on time, whether Rockwell stays, and whether WWDC 2027 is where an agentic Siri finally gets a name.

— via MacRumors