macOS 27 Siri AI First Experience: Desktop Walls Exposed in 24 Hours

Apple’s upcoming macOS 27 Golden Gate, announced at WWDC 2026, comes equipped with Siri AI, the core of Apple Intelligence. The Verge’s reporter Antonio G. Di Benedetto tested the developer beta for 24 hours, highlighting the unique challenges of the desktop environment. The reporter, who had long disabled Siri on Mac and showed no interest in Apple Intelligence, says the new Siri AI somewhat changed his mind. However, his assessment lacks the enthusiasm seen in earlier tests on iPhone and Apple Watch.

Constraints Apparent on Desktop

Di Benedetto’s first realization was the low need for a voice assistant on desktop. When working on a laptop, he rarely uses voice for checking the weather or miscellaneous searches, as keyboard and mouse provide faster and more accurate control. He then explored ways to use Siri AI for daily tasks, such as automating time-consuming benchmark tests in laptop reviews.

However, Siri AI can launch applications but cannot perform actions within them. Apple itself never claimed such functionality, but the expected automation did not materialize. This limitation is a major barrier for users seeking an agent-like role for AI assistants. The previous comparison article on LangGraph vs AutoGen vs CrewAI also pointed out the common challenge of AI agents executing actions within actual applications, and Siri AI is no exception.

Lack of In-App Operations

Next, the reporter tried automation using a “vibe coding” approach via the new Shortcuts app feature, added as part of Apple Intelligence, which can generate shortcuts from natural language instructions. He instructed a workflow to run tests in Geekbench and Cinebench, save screenshots of results, and repeat three times at intervals of a few minutes.

The results were poor. The generated shortcut opened Geekbench and took a screenshot, but lacked the step to actually run the benchmark. The shortcut for Cinebench merely inserted an action to “wait for the user to run the test.” Shortcuts generated by Apple Intelligence are currently limited to simple operations and do not support dynamic in-app actions.

Issue with Indexing Progress Not Visible

In the iOS 27 developer beta, the Settings screen shows an “Indexing in progress” indicator. However, this indicator is absent in the macOS 27 beta. Siri AI needs to locally index users’ files and folders to utilize personal context, but the progress cannot be checked. When the reporter asked Siri about the indexing status, it responded by instructing him to press a non-existent settings button. This lack of basic feedback, even considering it’s a developer beta, undermines the user experience.

Room for Improvement Before Release

Di Benedetto notes, “It’s been just over 24 hours since testing began, and there’s plenty of room for improvement before the final release.” macOS 27 Golden Gate is expected to be publicly released in late 2026, with fixes based on developer beta feedback. In particular, Mac is often used as a professional work environment, demanding more from Siri AI than simple information retrieval or weather checks. Currently, its convenience is not as evident as on iPhone or Apple Watch.

On the other hand, the ability to understand personal context has received some praise in tests on iPhone and Apple Watch by colleagues. Responses referencing message and calendar data achieve more natural conversation than previous Siri. However, to demonstrate its true value on Mac, inter-app coordination and indexing completeness are essential.

Editorial Opinion

Short-term Impact

The Siri AI in macOS 27 Golden Gate, at the developer beta stage, has many functional limitations. If in-app action support and indexing progress display are not added before the final release, its competitiveness as a desktop AI assistant will be limited. The gap is clear compared to Google’s Gemini integrated into Google Workspace or Microsoft’s Copilot achieving OS-wide operations. If Apple lags in this area, some professional users may leave the ecosystem.

Long-term Perspective

Over a 1–3 year span, the focus will be on whether Apple evolves Siri from a mere voice interface into an agent that can perform actions across apps. The company’s emphasis on privacy can be a strength in balancing on-device processing and cloud integration. Considering trends like Microsoft’s MarkItDown document conversion tool for LLMs, Apple may integrate file processing and data conversion within its ecosystem into Siri AI. However, without expanding developer APIs, deep integration with third-party apps is unlikely.

Questions from the Editorial Team

To what extent will Apple allow Siri AI to perform in-app operations while maintaining strict privacy policies? For instance, auto-replying to emails and creating calendar events are already possible, but when will more advanced features like file editing or calling external services be implemented? Also, the developer community is asking for new APIs to extend Siri AI and more powerful shortcuts. It’s crucial to monitor how many of these issues are resolved by the time of the final release.

References

• My first 24 hours with Siri AI on the Mac - The Verge — published 2026-06-13
• LangGraph vs AutoGen vs CrewAI: AI Agent Comparison 2026 — our site
• Microsoft MarkItDown Markdown Conversion Tool for LLMs — our site