What if you could text an AI to book something, buy something online or track down information without opening another app? That’s the idea behind szn, a new service from former Apple Intelligence and Siri engineer Nikhil Gupta.
Szn is expected to launch in October and is designed to work entirely through iMessage, handling tasks on a user’s behalf rather than just answering questions. It can browse websites, make purchases, coordinate with vendors and tap into Apple services including Notes, Find My and iCloud.
Szn Works Through iMessage Instead Of A Dedicated App
Szn is built to feel like texting a contact rather than opening a chatbot. The service gets its own name, email address and phone number, giving it a separate identity users interact with directly inside iMessage.
That design means people don’t need to switch apps every time they want something done. The whole interaction happens inside the messaging thread they already use.
Szn Is Built To Take Action, Not Just Answer Questions
Most chatbots stop at giving you an answer. Szn is meant to go further, browsing websites, making purchases and coordinating with vendors on the user’s behalf.
A single request could involve several steps that would normally mean moving between different apps and websites. Szn is designed to handle all of that after one message.
Gupta says szn can also work with shared Apple Notes, Find My and iCloud, pulling information from across a user’s Apple devices while it works. That level of access raises an obvious question about permissions, since the service would be handling personal information and taking real actions rather than just generating text.
Szn Uses Its Own AI Model And Won’t Train On User Data
Szn isn’t built as another front end for an existing chatbot. Gupta says the product runs on a dedicated AI model built specifically for handling requests and completing actions.
Gupta also says szn will not use users’ personal data to train its models, a distinction that matters for a service with access to cloud storage, notes and location. Users will still need clear controls over what szn can see and what it’s allowed to do, and those controls should become clearer as the October launch gets closer.
Gupta previously worked on Apple Intelligence and Siri before leaving Apple to build szn, which is set to launch in October.
Our Take
The identity piece is what stands out to me more than the task automation. Giving an AI agent its own phone number and email address, instead of another app icon, is a small design choice that could matter a lot for adoption, since people already trust iMessage threads with real humans and never had to learn a new interface for it.
The bigger test is Gupta’s promise not to train on personal data while szn reads someone’s Notes and location. If szn can back that up in practice, it solves the trust problem that has held back every AI errand-running pitch so far.
