Apple appears to be on the verge of following through on its promise to add support for additional AI models, with code revealing Google’s Gemini is coming to Apple Intelligence.

Spotted by MacRumors analyst Aaron Perris, backend Apple code reveals a planned prompt to let users choose between OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

Apple unveiled its Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, providing one of the most compelling cases yet why the average person might want to use AI.

“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation. Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said at the time. “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them. This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do.”

Apple Intelligence relies on the company’s own models for basic tasks, but offloads more complex tasks to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In harmony with Apple’s commitment to privacy, its own Private Cloud Compute is designed to ensure user privacy, while its deal with OpenAI also provides greater privacy than a ChatGPT user would normally expect.

Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple devices into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence.

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple Intelligence can flex and scale its computational capacity and draw on larger, server-based models for more complex requests. These models run on servers powered by Apple silicon, providing a foundation that allows Apple to ensure that data is never retained or exposed.

Privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for users who choose to connect their account.

Alternate AI Models

In the days leading up to Apple Intelligence’s unveil, there were rumors Google Gemini could be one of the available options, with Anthropic’s Claude being a later addition. While that didn’t happen, Apple made clear that it wanted to give customers choice, as Senior VP Craig Federighi pointed out in an interview.

We think ultimately people are going to have a preference perhaps for certain models that they want to use, maybe one that’s great for creative writing or one that they prefer for coding. And so we want to enable users ultimately to bring a model of their choice.

And so we may look forward to doing integrations with different models like Google Gemini in the future. I mean, nothing to announce right now, but that’s our direction.

If the code Perris discovered is any indication, it seems Apple is closing in on its goal of giving users the ability to choose their favorite AI model.