Apple CEO Presses AI Chief To Speed Up Siri's Autonomous Features

Apple executives are moving to expand Siri’s capabilities beyond simple voice commands, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The company is working to give the assistant the ability to control third-party applications and handle complex, ongoing tasks. This shift is intended to allow Siri to function more like an autonomous agent rather than a reactive tool.

Gurman reports that CEO John Ternus is pressuring AI leader Craig Federighi to accelerate the development timeline. The goal is to deliver a version of Siri that can compete directly with AI agents from OpenAI and Meta. While Federighi has already shipped a functional version of Siri AI on a tight schedule, internal assessments suggest Apple is behind its competitors.

Two major updates are expected in the coming months. The first will arrive with iOS 27.3. This update will grant Siri fine-grained control over Apple’s own software. Users will be able to ask the assistant to rotate and crop images in Photos or organize tabs in Safari. These changes target internal workflows where the assistant currently has limited reach.

A larger integration with third-party services is scheduled for the spring. Gurman says this update will let Siri perform actions such as placing orders through Grubhub or booking reservations via OpenTable. These features will allow the assistant to interact directly with external services without the user switching apps manually.

Apple is also planning to make Siri more agentic in the long term. Gurman states that the company wants Siri to track goals and determine next steps without user input for every action. He notes that competitors like Dots, Muse, and Grok already pursue objectives continuously. Gurman believes Apple could implement these agentic features as early as next year, driven by market demands.