Siri AI still works on a simple loop, as The Mac Observer describes it: you ask, it does one thing, and then it waits. Two reports from November 8 and 9 point past that. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says Apple wants Siri to keep pursuing goals the way OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse can, and SamMobile found a Bixby test feature that runs tasks in the background.
Neither company has announced a launch. Both reports point to 2027 at the earliest: Gurman's estimate for Siri, and SamMobile's possible Galaxy S27 debut for Bixby.
What Gurman says about Siri
In his Power On newsletter on Sunday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple CEO John Ternus told software chief Craig Federighi in a closed-door meeting in recent weeks that Apple needs to "accelerate" its software road map and "move quickly beyond merely making necessary improvements to Siri," as MacRumors quoted it.
Gurman also described where Apple wants Siri to go. "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," he wrote. "Apple ultimately wants to go in this direction, I'm told, and I believe the company could make Siri more like an agent as early as next year." The Verge quoted the same passage, which ends with "not that it has much of a choice, given current consumer and market demands."
Note the wording. "As early as next year" is Gurman's own estimate, and The Mac Observer notes that, per Gurman, the exact form is still open, and that Apple has not announced anything. That makes 2027 the earliest possible date, not an announced plan.
The steps before an agent
According to The Verge's summary of Gurman's report, two Siri changes are expected first:
- iOS 27.3: finer control over Apple's own apps, such as rotating and cropping images in Photos and organizing Safari tabs.
- Spring (likely, per Gurman): working with third-party apps, for example placing an order through Grubhub or booking a dinner reservation through OpenTable.
Apple's own developer notice from Nov. 3 matches that order. The iOS 27.3 betas include a Developer Preview that lets any app bring its content and actions into Siri AI through App Intents, from "checking a delivery to booking a reservation to placing an order." Apple says it has started rolling out new actions across Calendar, Files, Finder, Journal, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Preview, Reminders, Safari, Shortcuts and Weather. Third-party actions reach customers "in a few months," and App Store submission opens in the spring. We covered that notice in Siri AI Opens to Every App.
Apple also added "skills," which "teach Siri AI how to combine several actions into a single experience." The Mac Observer calls skills the closest thing Siri has to agent behavior right now, though you still start every run yourself. Siri AI also gained memory of past conversations in iOS 27.2, as covered in our iOS 27.2 Siri AI explainer.
What Samsung is testing for Bixby
On Monday, SamMobile reported that it found a Bixby upgrade in an upcoming version of the app tied to One UI 9.5. SamMobile says the capability is part of Bixby Work. According to its report:
- Bixby can handle tasks in the background, such as booking a hotel room or scheduling an appointment.
- It can set up recurring tasks. When SamMobile asked it to report the USD-to-INR exchange rate every morning, Bixby created a daily task.
- Bixby reads the request, sets up the action and waits for you to confirm. Only after you approve does the task go live.
- Approved tasks sit in a new Actions section in the Bixby app's left sidebar. You can delete, pause or pin each one, read an activity log of how it ran each day, and jump back to the chat where you first asked.
SamMobile says Samsung is testing this internally and that it could debut with the Galaxy S27 series early next year. SamMobile says it is not known whether older Galaxy phones will get it.
Why this matters for you
The difference is between an assistant that does one thing per request and one that keeps a to-do list. Today, if you want the exchange rate every morning, you ask every morning. In SamMobile's test, one request set up a daily task.
That raises questions about control, cost and where it works:
- Control. Samsung's test build asks for confirmation before a task starts and keeps a log you can check. Apple has not announced an agentic Siri, so it has not said how one would ask for approval.
- Cost. Apple already limits server features. Its notice says certain features that rely on server-side models, including Siri AI, are "subject to daily usage limits," and that "expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future." The Mac Observer notes that an agent working in the background needs a lot of server time. Apple has not said what will be free.
- Where it works. Siri AI is "currently unavailable in the EU" on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and it is not available to users under 13, per Apple's notice.
What to do now
You do not need to change anything yet. If you use an iPhone, try the new Siri actions in Apple's own apps when iOS 27.3 ships, and watch which of your third-party apps add Siri support in the spring. The Mac Observer calls these app skills the plumbing an agent would run on.
If you use a Galaxy phone, the Bixby feature is still an internal test. Watch for Samsung's Galaxy S27 launch for a confirmed feature list.
For both, a good habit carries over from today's agents: before you let any assistant act on its own, check what it can reach, how you approve a task and where you can see what it did.
Sources
- The Verge: Apple is racing to make Siri more agentic
- MacRumors: Siri AI rumored to become "more like an agent" as early as next year
- The Mac Observer: Siri AI could act like an agent as early as 2027
- Apple Developer: Siri AI is now open to all developers
- SamMobile: One UI 9.5 might turn Bixby into an AI agent
