{
"$type": "site.standard.document",
"canonicalUrl": "https://build.ms/notes/2026/1/23/the-one-skill-siri-needs/",
"description": "Siri doesn't just need a makeover, it needs a new vision for automation. And that's a job Skills can help with.",
"path": "/notes/2026/1/23/the-one-skill-siri-needs/",
"publishedAt": "2026-01-23T12:00:00.000Z",
"site": "at://did:plc:b6eke66r3vbmnegg73qgprl6/site.standard.publication/3mmypfmg4sx2d",
"tags": [
"iOS"
],
"textContent": "There are once again rumors of another Siri revamp — something I'm strongly in favor of. In a world of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, the current Siri experience feels like a fourth grader trying to defend a PhD dissertation.\n\nI use AI for many things — as this blog is witness to. I write code with AI, research vacation plans, and automate menial tasks. Siri can't do any of these — and I desperately want it to be a better tool for automation.\n\n!Three images of Siri side by side\n\nIf you double tap your iPhone's home bar, you'll see a few quick actions that are dynamically displayed based on — waves hands — whatever Siri thinks you want to do. (For the record, I have never played a podcast in Apple's Podcast app.) Sometimes there aren't even three options because Siri can't think of three ways to help you.\n\nAll I want is control over this experience. Let me write Skills that solve real problems I have. I want a Fix Spelling and Grammar skill that quickly cleans up my emails. I want a skill that answers questions about what I see on screen. I want a skill that summarizes podcasts to decide if they're worth listening to. I want to do a lot of things — and many of them are hyper-specific to me. Since Apple loves AppIntents, maybe we can even throw these Skills into the framework and let developers expose them as Shortcuts.\n\nEveryone will have a different set of skills they want to use — and that's great! People should have flexibility and autonomy in how they interact with AI systems. It frustrates me that the only way to interact with AI at a system level on iOS and macOS is so tied to Siri — and Apple's current lackluster vision for AI. It shouldn't be so hard to automate a menial task on the most important computing device in my life.",
"title": "The One Skill Siri Needs"
}