An ex-Siri engineer is unleashing the iMessage assistant many wanted Siri to be
It arrives in October with one trick Apple's own assistant still can't match.
szn is an AI agent that handles errands from an iMessage thread. | Image by szn
szn, a new AI agent from former Siri and Apple Intelligence engineer Nikhil Gupta, lives right inside an iMessage thread on your iPhone 18 Pro Max, where it can browse websites, buy things and coordinate with vendors on your behalf. szn even gets its own name, email address and phone number, and a wider launch is planned for October.
The news comes from Bloomberg's lead Apple reporter Mark Gurman, in his latest Power On newsletter, where Gupta talked about the service directly. Gurman has been breaking Apple news for more than a decade, and since these details come straight from the co-founder himself, I'm comfortable treating them as solid.
The agent works through an iMessage thread for now, with a dedicated app coming later, and it can tap into shared Apple Notes, Find My locations and iCloud files without you ever leaving the conversation.
Gupta also says each customer gets a dedicated model, and none of your personal data is used for training. It should be noted that szn's website already offers a free early preview, so I'm assuming October is when the service opens up more widely.
For iPhone owners, this is the kind of help many of us expected from Siri years ago, where it doesn't just answer questions but calls the restaurant, sends the follow-up email and remembers what was said. The catch is that Apple has shut down services that piggyback on iMessage before, and Beeper Mini is the best-known example, since Apple blocked it within days for using fake credentials to reach iMessage. His newsletter doesn't say how szn connects to iMessage, and I'm guessing that detail will decide how long it sticks around.
Back in June, Poke became the first AI agent Apple approved for its Messages for Business platform, according to this report, which gives it an official lane into iMessage that szn may or may not have. Meanwhile, iOS 27's new Siri can perform actions inside your apps and draft messages in your tone, and ChatGPT's Mac app can read your iMessages and reply for you, with a person approving what goes out.
If you already use Poke, nothing changes for you right now. Siri users are in a different spot, though, since Siri mostly works inside your phone, while szn's own number and email let it deal with the outside world, and that's the part Apple should be watching.
If you put off booking appointments because it means a phone call, szn is aimed squarely at you.
Still, handing an assistant your card and letting it text people as its own contact is a big step. I'd wait to see its pricing and how it connects to iMessage before trusting it with anything important.
I'm not surprised that someone who worked on Siri wanted to build this, since an assistant that makes the call or places the order for you has been the goal for a long time. What stands out to me is that it's happening at a startup, even with iOS 27's much smarter Siri already on our iPhones.
I'm hoping Apple lets szn stick around instead of repeating the Beeper Mini story, because more competition is exactly what pushes Siri to get better. And if szn can book my next appointment without me picking up the phone, I'll gladly give it a try.
An ex-Siri engineer takes the agent idea to iMessage
The news comes from Bloomberg's lead Apple reporter Mark Gurman, in his latest Power On newsletter, where Gupta talked about the service directly. Gurman has been breaking Apple news for more than a decade, and since these details come straight from the co-founder himself, I'm comfortable treating them as solid.
The agent works through an iMessage thread for now, with a dedicated app coming later, and it can tap into shared Apple Notes, Find My locations and iCloud files without you ever leaving the conversation.
Who would you trust to make calls and purchases for you?
0 Votes
Poke, Siri and ChatGPT are already chasing the same idea
For iPhone owners, this is the kind of help many of us expected from Siri years ago, where it doesn't just answer questions but calls the restaurant, sends the follow-up email and remembers what was said. The catch is that Apple has shut down services that piggyback on iMessage before, and Beeper Mini is the best-known example, since Apple blocked it within days for using fake credentials to reach iMessage. His newsletter doesn't say how szn connects to iMessage, and I'm guessing that detail will decide how long it sticks around.
Video by szn
Back in June, Poke became the first AI agent Apple approved for its Messages for Business platform, according to this report, which gives it an official lane into iMessage that szn may or may not have. Meanwhile, iOS 27's new Siri can perform actions inside your apps and draft messages in your tone, and ChatGPT's Mac app can read your iMessages and reply for you, with a person approving what goes out.
If you already use Poke, nothing changes for you right now. Siri users are in a different spot, though, since Siri mostly works inside your phone, while szn's own number and email let it deal with the outside world, and that's the part Apple should be watching.
What szn means for iPhone owners who dread phone calls
If you put off booking appointments because it means a phone call, szn is aimed squarely at you.
Siri's missed chance is now someone else's startup
I'm not surprised that someone who worked on Siri wanted to build this, since an assistant that makes the call or places the order for you has been the goal for a long time. What stands out to me is that it's happening at a startup, even with iOS 27's much smarter Siri already on our iPhones.
I'm hoping Apple lets szn stick around instead of repeating the Beeper Mini story, because more competition is exactly what pushes Siri to get better. And if szn can book my next appointment without me picking up the phone, I'll gladly give it a try.
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