It has taken a long time, but Apple seems to be settling into its AI strategy at last and the key seems to be offering options. According to the latest report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple plans to let users pick from a lineup of third-party models when asking their devices to perform generative AI tasks. This change is planned to arrive in iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, sources told the publication.

AI companies that opt in and add support to their App Store programs will be available to power Apple’s AI tools in what the company is internally calling Extensions. “Extensions allow you to access generative AI capabilities from installed apps on demand, through Apple Intelligence features such as Siri, Writing Tools, Image Playground and more,” a message in test versions of the software reportedly read.

We’d already gotten a hint earlier this year that choice would be a watchword for some portion of the company’s plan for Apple Intelligence. Bloomberg reported in March that Apple’s AI chatbot-to-be would support selecting from different AI models. And for the past few years, ChatGPT has been a growing part of Apple Intelligence, with OpenAI’s platform available to handle some gen-AI tasks.

Apple’s artificial intelligence slow play has gotten a lot of attention and raised a lot of eyebrows. The strategy now appears to be offering users flexibility and options rather than developing an in-house model powerful enough to compete directly with the chatbots that have been on the market over the past few years. It’s an unusual tactic for a company that has historically embodied the walled garden approach to tech, but given the number of delays and false starts, maybe this is the way Apple can at least become a real part of the AI conversation.