#AI Models — Choosing Your Expert
Not all AIs think alike. ambientChat connects you to models from multiple leading AI vendors and lets you switch between them at any time. It's like having a panel of experts on call — each one sees the same context about you, so switching doesn't mean starting over, it means getting a different perspective.
#What It Does
The model selector lets you pick which AI answers your next question. Whichever model you choose gets the same context — your inventory, documents, recent conversation, location signals — so you can swap mid-conversation without repeating yourself.
#The vendors
ambientChat conversation routes to models from the three frontier AI labs:
- OpenAI — a broad, reliable all-rounder family.
- Anthropic — known for nuanced reasoning and careful long-form analysis.
- Google — strong multimodal (image + text) capabilities.
Web search and source-grounded answers are handled by Perplexity under the hood — any of the three frontier models can call it as a tool whenever a question needs real-time web information. You don't have to pick Perplexity directly; the model you're talking to will fetch web results on its own when needed, and cite them in the answer.
We keep the specific model versions up to date as vendors ship new ones, so this guide sticks to vendors and tiers rather than naming particular models — those change.
#The three tiers
Models are grouped into three cost tiers. Picking the right tier usually matters more than picking the right vendor.
| Tier | Cost | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday | $ | Fast, low-cost models for the majority of daily questions — quick lookups, short summaries, light reasoning. Marked Recommended because most questions don't need more than this. |
| Thoughtful | $$ | Mid-cost models for harder reasoning — comparing options, working through a decision, longer-form writing. |
| Premium | $$$ | The most capable models each vendor offers — deep reasoning, complex analysis, web-grounded research. Costs the most per question. |
#The capability icons
Each model row shows small icons telling you what that model can do:
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ⚡ Quick reply | Tuned for speed — answers fast. Shown on Everyday-tier models. |
| 🧠 Thinks aloud | Shows its reasoning before answering, useful for hard problems. |
| 👁️ Sees images | Can read images you attach or that come from your inventory photos. |
| 📚 Cites sources | Returns citations to the sources it used — helpful when facts matter. |
Not every icon appears on every model. The icons reflect what each model supports today; as models improve, icons can change.
#All paid access is equal
Every paid subscription can use every model on the list. Subscription tiers control how many tokens you can spend per month, not which models you're allowed to pick. Premium-tier models simply cost more tokens per question, so your monthly allowance goes less far if you use them heavily.
#How to Use It
The model selector is available in three places. Your selection is remembered per-device.
#iOS app
- Open Chat.
- Tap the current model name near the top of the screen.
- A bottom sheet slides up showing tiers (Everyday / Thoughtful / Premium) with each model's capability icons.
- Tap the model you want. The next message uses it.
#Web
- Open the Chat page.
- Click the model button in the top-right (shows the current model).
- A dropdown lists the tiers and models with the same capability icons.
- Click a model to switch; your choice is remembered on this device.
#MCP (Claude Desktop, OpenClaw, and other AI agents)
When you ask ambientChat via MCP — for example from Claude Desktop — the MCP client is already running its own model (that's how you're talking to it). ambientChat's role in that case is to supply context, not to pick a model. So there's no separate model selector in MCP clients. You choose the model inside your MCP client (e.g., pick a Claude model in Claude Desktop); that client then pulls context from ambientChat via tools.
#Switching mid-conversation
Switching models doesn't clear your conversation. All models read the same recent history, so you can start a question with a fast Everyday model, switch to a Thoughtful or Premium model to go deeper, and the new model picks up where the last one left off.
#Tips & Tricks
- Stay on Everyday until you need more. Most questions — "is anything expiring this week?", "which beacon am I near?", "summarise that receipt" — don't need a Premium model. Save the expensive ones for the hard ones.
- Match the model to the job. Use a 🧠 Thinks aloud model when you want it to reason through a decision. Use a 👁️ Sees images model when you're attaching photos or asking about photos on your items. Use a 📚 Cites sources model when accuracy of facts matters.
- Compare answers. If a model's response feels off, switch vendors and ask again — different vendors genuinely reason differently. Same context, different framing.
- Watch your token usage, not your model list. The usage indicator shows how much of your monthly budget you've spent. If it's climbing fast, drop to a cheaper tier for the routine questions.
#Options
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Selected model | The model used for your next message on this device. Changed via the model selector. | Anthropic, Everyday tier |
| Persistence | Your choice is remembered per-device (web: browser local storage; iOS: device storage). | — |
#Known Limitations
- Model catalogue is curated. We only expose models that pass our quality and cost checks. When vendors ship new models, they're added after vetting; older ones are retired. The list you see is always the current set.
- Not every model supports every capability. A model without the 👁️ icon can't interpret images; a model without 📚 can't return citations. The icons tell you before you pick.
- Context windows vary. Each model has a limit on how much history + context it can consider at once. Very long conversations may drop the oldest turns on models with smaller windows. Starting a fresh conversation resets this.
- Panel of Experts costs more credits. Panel mode — ask several models at once, see the Panel of Experts guide — keeps the full conversation for every model, so it consumes credits faster than single-model chat.
- Answers will differ between models. This is the point, not a bug. If two models disagree, that's signal worth noticing.
#Version History
| Version | Date | What Changed |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 2026-06-08 | Corrected stale limitation: Panel of Experts is live (was "not live yet") |
| 4 | 2026-06-07 | Terminology: web model-picker section retitled "Web" (the web interface) |
| 3 | 2026-04-22 | Demoted Perplexity from the primary model selector. Conversation is now handled by the three frontier labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google); Perplexity is used under the hood for web-grounded answers and cited sources, invoked automatically as a tool by whichever primary model you pick. Cleaner product story, consistent capabilities across all primaries. |
| 2 | 2026-04-19 | Rewrote to match current behavior: three-tier structure (Everyday / Thoughtful / Premium), capability icon legend, clarified that all paid subscriptions can use all models (token budget is the limit, not access), added web + MCP platforms, removed references to specific obsolete model names. |
| 1 | 2026-03-01 | Initial guide |