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Apple Ships Redesigned Siri as Cloud‑Based Agents Win Early Traction

Apple’s privacy-first, in‑app design slows Siri’s move to cloud task automation and leaves practical assistant work to rivals.

Overview

  • Apple released iOS 27 on Monday with a redesigned Siri that behaves like modern chatbots, able to carry conversations, draft messages, search photos and navigate apps.
  • The new Siri performs strong in Apple’s own apps and in third‑party apps that open integration, but it does not run web automation or access external accounts like Gmail.
  • A new class of cloud agents is already offering that web automation: Instinct, an invite-only startup reported at a $2.5 billion valuation, runs a virtual browser and connects to email to complete multi-step tasks.
  • Meta’s Muse reached roughly 600,000 downloads in its first five days, showing rapid consumer uptake for agents that can book travel, fill forms and act inside websites.
  • Apple frames its choice as a privacy protection, but former Apple AI staff warn that avoiding cloud account access and automated web browsing can slow feature progress and risk users choosing non‑Apple assistants or cheaper phones.