Apple Shortcuts Is Getting an AI Makeover — Here's What That Means for Automation

Older Apple users may recall when the now-ubiquitous Shortcuts app was an indie darling known as Workflow. It was beloved for making automation not only possible but fun, even for those who weren't developers. When Apple acquired it in 2017 and integrated it into iOS (and eventually macOS), Shortcuts became the de facto standard for making simple but powerful workflows. But in recent years, it's been… a bit stagnant.

That may be about to change.

Apple is developing a significant overhaul of the Shortcuts application as part of its broader Apple Intelligence initiative, Mark Gurman writes in the latest Power On newsletter:

"A revamped version of its Shortcuts app. The new iteration will enable consumers to create those actions using Apple Intelligence models. (This had long been expected for 2025, although delays may push it to 2026.)

This is significant, especially in the context of how agentic AI tools like OpenAI's GPT, Microsoft's Copilot, and Google's Gemini are revolutionizing how we think about productivity and automation.

Why It Matters
Shortcuts today are powerful but remain rule-based and somewhat intimidating to non-technical users. The interface, while visual, assumes a degree of logical structuring and abstraction that isn't immediately obvious to many casual users.

By adding natural language-based AI, Apple could eliminate that friction. Think:

Telling Siri (or another Apple Intelligence interface), "Create a morning routine that reads my calendar, turns on Do Not Disturb, and plays my focus playlist," and it just works.

Setting up Shortcuts by simple speech — no blocks, no menus.

Auto-suggested workflows based on context, routine, or goal.

This lowers the barrier dramatically and places the power of automation in the hands of the everyday user, what Workflow first set out to achieve.

Following the Industry Curve
Apple is not operating in a vacuum here. Microsoft has already begun adding AI to the OS with Copilot+ PCs, which allow the user to call up multi-step system tasks with natural language. Similarly, future Android versions are likely to be more tightly integrated with generative AI to accommodate task chaining and intent detection.

This is a significant shift from automation as manual configuration to automation as a conversational interface.

For Developers and Power Users
For devs and power users, this announcement brings up interesting questions:

Will Apple expose APIs that enable us to create more deeply integrated apps with AI-generated Shortcuts?

Can we define intents or train models on our app actions?

Will we get debugging tools for AI-generated automations?

If Apple gets this right, it will not only be a win for normal users — it could reignite passion for developing for automation, the way that Shortcuts first excited a community of makers and enthusiasts.

The Timeline and the Trade-Offs
Although this revamp was reportedly on track for 2025, Gurman reports that it may slip to 2026 due to developmental delays — no surprise given the complexity of integrating AI into the system level on a privacy-conscious ecosystem like Apple's.

In any case, even if this is a slow burn, it's one worth watching.

Final Thoughts
The future of automation isn't dragging blocks or programming logic flows — it's talking to your system and being understood. Apple introducing AI into Shortcuts is both overdue and incredibly promising.

The surfaces we interact with to control our devices are about to become a lot more human. And in doing this, the very nature of what we think of as "productivity" might just shift along with it.