Apple chief executive John Ternus has told software chief Craig Federighi to move faster on artificial intelligence, pressing for a Siri that acts on its own rather than only answering questions, with such an agentic version eyed as soon as next year. The push, made in a closed-door meeting in recent weeks, comes as the executive in charge of Siri weighs leaving Apple, and as the company changes how it builds its next iPhone software to give engineers more time to code. Apple has not commented publicly on the internal discussions.
The Push From the Top
Ternus took over as Apple’s chief executive on 1 September, and the meeting with Federighi is the clearest sign yet that he wants the company’s AI work to move at a rival’s pace. Federighi, Apple’s AI chief, works to a planning horizon of 12 to 18 months, far shorter than hardware engineering’s multi-year road maps.
The agentic turn is the heart of the push. Today’s Siri answers questions and carries out requests, but rivals have moved on to agents that track goals, decide the next step, and keep working in the background without being asked each time. Apple wants Siri to go in that direction, with a proactive version possible as early as next year.
The building blocks are already in place. Apple has spent years developing App Intents, the framework that lets apps expose actions to Siri, and the rebuilt assistant runs on Google’s Gemini model under the hood. That combination could let Siri act inside apps without the screen-scraping computer use its rivals rely on, which would be cheaper and more private.
The Siri Chief May Leave
The other piece of the report concerns the person running Siri. Mike Rockwell, who led development of the Vision Pro before taking charge of Siri AI in March 2025, is said to be seriously considering stepping down from the role during 2027, or leaving Apple altogether. His responsibilities would probably be shared between two people if he goes.
The names floated for the succession are ex-Google AI veteran Amar Subramanya and Sebastien Marineau, who reports to Federighi and is expected by some inside the company to replace his boss eventually. Rockwell’s departure would be a blow: he shepherded the rebuilt Siri to market after a two-year delay that embarrassed the company.
A New Way of Building iOS
Apple is also changing how it builds software, in a move that may matter as much as the personnel news. For the first cycle of iOS 28 development, engineers get six weeks to code and explore, followed by two weeks of integration, instead of the usual split of two four-week efforts. Employees say they like the change.
The shift is likely a response to agentic coding tools, which have made the coding phase more productive and the integration phase shorter. It is the kind of process change a company makes when it believes its engineers can move faster, and it fits with the message Ternus is sending Federighi: speed up, and give people room to explore.
Our Read
The report’s boldest line is also its most cautious. Gurman writes that he believes Apple could make Siri more like an agent as early as next year — a judgment, not a confirmed product date. Apple has announced no such product, and its timetable has first-party app control arriving in December, and third-party app support arriving as a spring preview.
That caution cuts both ways. On one side, the CEO’s impatience is real and specific: Apple rebuilt Siri on borrowed technology and still trails rivals whose agents already work in the background. On the other, AppleInsider notes the report contradicts itself, pointing out that Federighi’s short planning horizon is already a response to the same urgency Ternus is demanding.
What is not in doubt is the direction of travel. Every rival assistant is becoming an agent, and Apple, which owns the phone, the operating system and the app frameworks, has more raw material for an agent than anyone. The question is whether the company can ship one before the market decides the race is already run.
Why It Matters
Siri is the assistant on more than a billion active iPhones, and an agentic version would change what those phones can do without their owners watching. For Apple, it is the test of whether the company can turn its late start in AI into a product advantage, using its control of the device instead of renting intelligence from others.
For the industry, the stakes are just as high. If Apple ships a capable agent in 2027, the assistant market stops being a contest between chatbot apps and becomes a fight over who controls the operating system. If it slips again, the company that once defined the smartphone risks becoming a passenger in the AI era.
Background
Siri AI launched in beta with iOS 27 on 14 September 2026, gained five more languages with iOS 27.2 in October, and opened to developers through App Intents on 3 November, with third-party app support due as a spring preview. Ternus became chief executive on 1 September, and his first message to staff made no mention of AI.
Source: 9to5Mac’s report on Bloomberg’s Power On and AppleInsider’s account
0 Comments