Lately I updated the Mac Neo I got to the macOS Golden Gate 27.0 beta. It comes with the new Siri app and Siri AI. After installing the beta I got busy with work and life so I didn’t have a chance to try it out.

A couple days ago I gave it a serious look at. I’ve been using Claude Cowork since April so it is interesting to compare the two.

My first impressions is that the new Siri AI’s speed is astonishing next to Claude. It doesn’t need to ping some server so it’s answers are surprisingly fast. So fast that it makes me wonder if it actually did what I asked.

It interacts with apps like Calendar and Reminders so well. If I ask Claude Cowork to give me a daily briefing (what is coming up today and what are my to-dos), it takes a minute or two to process. Siri AI gathers all the things in seconds.

Another is I do a daily GTD review. Siri AI is walking me through the review and putting things where it needs to go. I just did a mindsweep of the upcoming day and it put everything that isn’t already in Reminders or on the Calendar in the right spot.

Not a Minus but a Detour

I have an elaborate set of Claude Cowork manuals and rules that I have been building over months. Skills for all the things I do for work, band, and whatever. They are all in a folder in .md file format. Siri AI can read them but can’t edit or update those files right now.

What it can do though is update, append and edit notes in the Notes app. I imported all the .md files and Siri AI can follow them. It’s also letting me know what it can’t do that Claude Cowork can do. It is suggesting work arounds using the Apple apps which is turning out to be really fun for me.

I love building and playing with Shortcuts. It can run shortcuts. This is powerful. A shortcut runs really fast. They can be scheduled.

Random Thoughts

I notice that there is a “I can’t believe it works” time period with Siri AI. A decade of Siri being stiff and kinda working has built up. This vibe is slowly fading away and I am actually getting excited to use Siri again.

No complaints about the Notes app. We use it for band stuff and I use it occasionally with my partner. Now I have to use it all the time for this robot. My image of the Notes app is it’s the equivalent of a yellow legal pad of paper level app. That is not the case now if it is the source of truth for my robot assistant.

It is a minor drag I can’t get at some of my most used apps with it right now. It is in beta so that will probably change in a month or two. If I could have it use Drafts and 2do, it would be wonderful. It can’t so we just have to find another way to get things done. I can send Drafts to Notes with a button click. 2do syncs with Reminders so we can deal with that as well.