A former Siri and Apple Intelligence engineer is preparing an AI assistant that users can reach through an iMessage conversation. Called szn, the service is expected to launch in October and later expand into a dedicated app.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that co-founder Nikhil Gupta built szn to act on a user’s behalf rather than only answer questions. The agent is said to browse websites, make purchases and coordinate with vendors while the user remains inside a Messages thread.
The agent gets its own digital identity
Each szn assistant will reportedly have a name, email address and phone number, allowing it to contact people and respond to messages. Gupta also says every customer receives a dedicated model and that personal data is not used for training. Those are company claims that have not yet been independently audited.
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The service is also expected to work with shared Apple Notes, Find My location data and iCloud files. That combination could make the iMessage thread a front end for tasks that normally require several apps. It also creates important permission questions because purchases, location data and cloud files can be sensitive.
Apple has previously restricted services that depend on unofficial access to iMessage. Gurman’s report does not explain the technical method szn uses or whether Apple has reviewed it, so long-term availability on the platform remains uncertain.
The idea arrives as Apple expands action-based features in Siri AI and Messages. MacObserver has covered the Apple Intelligence tools in iOS 27 and Apple’s list of third-party apps supported by Siri AI. Szn’s October launch will show whether an independent assistant can use Apple’s messaging ecosystem without becoming another short-lived workaround. Pricing, supported countries and the exact launch date were not disclosed in the supplied newsletter. The first release will therefore be an early test of both usefulness and platform durability.
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