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Apple is reportedly exploring a more autonomous version of Siri AI that could carry out tasks on a user’s behalf rather than waiting for individual commands, potentially bringing its assistant closer to the AI agents offered by rival companies.
In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman examines Apple’s efforts to develop Siri beyond its current request-based capabilities, with iOS 28 emerging as the next major software milestone. The direction being explored resembles AI agents that can pursue goals and work across services, although the scope and timing of any Apple implementation remain uncertain.
For iPhone owners, the difference could be substantial. Siri AI already helps find information, understand what is on screen and carry out actions when asked. A genuinely autonomous assistant could potentially continue working on a broader task after receiving an initial instruction, instead of requiring a new request for every step.
The distinction matters because Apple has only just begun expanding Siri’s ability to work within apps. The iOS 27.3 developer beta introduces more detailed actions across Apple’s apps and gives third-party developers a way to connect their own app functions to Siri. Those tools are designed to follow user requests; they are not the same as handing an assistant an ongoing goal.
Bloomberg has separately discussed the distinction between Siri and autonomous agents such as OpenAI’s Dots. Such systems raise more demanding questions about access to personal information, permissions and how much freedom software should have to act without further approval.
Privacy could therefore become one of the biggest challenges for an agent-style Siri. An assistant that acts across messages, calendars, documents and other apps needs sufficient access to complete useful work, but Apple would also have to determine which actions require explicit confirmation and what information can be processed securely.
The report points toward a possible future for Siri beyond the improvements arriving in iOS 27, not a confirmed feature list for iOS 28. Apple has not announced an autonomous Siri agent or said when one might become available. For now, the most tangible changes remain the Siri AI features already available in iOS 27 and the expanded app controls currently in testing.