Per The Swift Programming Language:
You check for an implementation of an optional requirement by writing
a question mark after the name of the requirement when it is called,
such as someOptionalMethod?(someArgument). Optional property
requirements, and optional method requirements that return a value,
will always return an optional value of the appropriate type when they
are accessed or called, to reflect the fact that the optional
requirement may not have been implemented.
So the intention is not that you check whether the method is implemented, it’s that you attempt to call it regardless and get an optional back.