Apple's new CEO pushes Siri to evolve into a proactive agent: with 2.5 billion devices, Apple aims to compete for the next-generation AI gateway.

Beating AI News Flash: According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple's new CEO John Ternus recently held a dedicated conversation with software chief Craig Federighi, demanding accelerated AI development and that the company can no longer be satisfied with merely patching up Siri's existing features. Apple's next goal is to turn Siri into a truly proactive Agent.

Today's Siri can already understand screen content, read user-authorized emails and messages, and execute certain operations across apps. But it essentially still listens to one instruction and performs one step. Apple hopes it can, like ChatGPT Dots and Meta Muse, remember tasks assigned by users over the long term, proactively check for changes, determine what to do next, and continue advancing in the background.

Apple has advantages that other personal Agents find hard to replicate. Devices such as the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch themselves carry a large amount of personal information, and Apple also controls the operating system and app invocation interfaces. Earlier this year, Apple announced that its global active device install base had exceeded 2.5 billion units, although not all devices support the new version of Siri.

Gurman believes Apple could launch a version closer to a personal Agent as early as 2027. If Apple ultimately solves autonomous planning, background execution, and permission security issues, Siri will have the opportunity to become the personal Agent entry point directly on iPhone and Mac.

By then, the competitor facing third-party AI assistants will be a company that simultaneously controls hardware, operating systems, and a vast app ecosystem.