At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for Machine Learning and AI Frameworks. What are you most excited about in the Foundation Models framework? The Foundation Models framework provides access to an on-device Large Language Model (LLM), enabling entirely on-device processing for intelligent features. This allows you to build features such as personalized search suggestions and dynamic NPC generation in games. The combination of guided generation and streaming capabilities is particularly exciting for creating delightful animations and features with reliable output. The seamless integration with SwiftUI and the new design material Liquid Glass is also a major advantage. When should I still bring my own LLM via CoreML? It's generally recommended to first explore Apple's built-in system models and APIs, including the Foundation Models framework, as they are highly optimized for Apple devices and cover a wide range of use cases. However, Core ML is still valuable if you need more control or choice over the specific model being deployed, such as customizing existing system models or augmenting prompts. Core ML provides the tools to get these models on-device, but you are responsible for model distribution and updates. Should I migrate PyTorch code to MLX? MLX is an open-source, general-purpose machine learning framework designed for Apple Silicon from the ground up. It offers a familiar API, similar to PyTorch, and supports C, C++, Python, and Swift. MLX emphasizes unified memory, a key feature of Apple Silicon hardware, which can improve performance. It's recommended to try MLX and see if its programming model and features better suit your application's needs. MLX shines when working with state-of-the-art, larger models. Can I test Foundation Models in Xcode simulator or device? Yes, you can use the Xcode simulator to test Foundation Models use cases. However, your Mac must be running macOS Tahoe. You can test on a physical iPhone running iOS 18 by connecting it to your Mac and running Playgrounds or live previews directly on the device. Which on-device models will be supported? any open source models? The Foundation Models framework currently supports Apple's first-party models only. This allows for platform-wide optimizations, improving battery life and reducing latency. While Core ML can be used to integrate open-source models, it's generally recommended to first explore the built-in system models and APIs provided by Apple, including those in the Vision, Natural Language, and Speech frameworks, as they are highly optimized for Apple devices. For frontier models, MLX can run very large models. How often will the Foundational Model be updated? How do we test for stability when the model is updated? The Foundation Model will be updated in sync with operating system updates. You can test your app against new model versions during the beta period by downloading the beta OS and running your app. It is highly recommended to create an "eval set" of golden prompts and responses to evaluate the performance of your features as the model changes or as you tweak your prompts. Report any unsatisfactory or satisfactory cases using Feedback Assistant. Which on-device model/API can I use to extract text data from images such as: nutrition labels, ingredient lists, cashier receipts, etc? Thank you. The Vision framework offers the RecognizeDocumentRequest which is specifically designed for these use cases. It not only recognizes text in images but also provides the structure of the document, such as rows in a receipt or the layout of a nutrition label. It can also identify data like phone numbers, addresses, and prices. What is the context window for the model? What are max tokens in and max tokens out? The context window for the Foundation Model is 4,096 tokens. The split between input and output tokens is flexible. For example, if you input 4,000 tokens, you'll have 96 tokens remaining for the output. The API takes in text, converting it to tokens under the hood. When estimating token count, a good rule of thumb is 3-4 characters per token for languages like English, and 1 character per token for languages like Japanese or Chinese. Handle potential errors gracefully by asking for shorter prompts or starting a new session if the token limit is exceeded. Is there a rate limit for Foundation Models API that is limited by power or temperature condition on the iPhone? Yes, there are rate limits, particularly when your app is in the background. A budget is allocated for background app usage, but exceeding it will result in rate-limiting errors. In the foreground, there is no rate limit unless the device is under heavy load (e.g., camera open, game mode). The system dynamically balances performance, battery life, and thermal conditions, which can affect the token throughput. Use appropriate quality of service settings for your tasks (e.g., background priority for background work) to help the system manage resources effectively. Do the foundation models support languages other than English? Yes, the on-device Foundation Model is multilingual and supports all languages supported by Apple Intelligence. To get the model to output in a specific language, prompt it with instructions indicating the user's preferred language using the locale API (e.g., "The user's preferred language is en-US"). Putting the instructions in English, but then putting the user prompt in the desired output language is a recommended practice. Are larger server-based models available through Foundation Models? No, the Foundation Models API currently only provides access to the on-device Large Language Model at the core of Apple Intelligence. It does not support server-side models. On-device models are preferred for privacy and for performance reasons. Is it possible to run Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) using the Foundation Models framework? Yes, it is possible to run RAG on-device, but the Foundation Models framework does not include a built-in embedding model. You'll need to use a separate database to store vectors and implement nearest neighbor or cosine distance searches. The Natural Language framework offers simple word and sentence embeddings that can be used. Consider using a combination of Foundation Models and Core ML, using Core ML for your embedding model.

Hi everyone, I'm experiencing an inconsistent behavior with the Translation framework on iOS 18. The LanguageAvailability.status() API reports language models as .installed, but translation fails with Code 16. Setup: Using translationTask modifier with TranslationSession Batch translation with explicit source/target languages Languages: Portuguese→English, German→English Issue: let status = await LanguageAvailability().status(from: sourceLang, to: targetLang) // Returns: .installed // But translation fails: let responses = try await session.translations(from: requests) // Error: TranslationErrorDomain Code=16 "Offline models not available" Logs: Language model installed: pt -> en Language model installed: de -> en Starting translation: de -> en Error Domain=TranslationErrorDomain Code=16 "Translation failed"NSLocalizedFailureReason=Offline models not available for language pair What I've tried: Re-downloading languages in Settings Using source: nil for auto-detection Fresh TranslationSession.Configuration each time Questions: Is there a way to force model re-validation/re-download programmatically? Should translationTask show download popup when Code 16 occurs? Has anyone found a reliable workaround? I've seen similar reports in threads 791357 and 777113. Any guidance appreciated! Thanks!

We’ve encountered what appears to be a CoreML regression between macOS 26.0.1 and macOS 26.1 Beta. In macOS 26.0.1, CoreML models run and produce correct results. However, in macOS 26.1 Beta, the same models produce scrambled or corrupted outputs, suggesting that tensor memory is being read or written incorrectly. The behavior is consistent with a low-level stride or pointer arithmetic issue — for example, using 16-bit strides on 32-bit data or other mismatches in tensor layout handling. Reproduction Install ON1 Photo RAW 2026 or ON1 Resize 2026 on macOS 26.0.1. Use the newest Highest Quality resize model, which is Stable Diffusion–based and runs through CoreML. Observe correct, high-quality results. Upgrade to macOS 26.1 Beta and run the same operation again. The output becomes visually scrambled or corrupted. We are also seeing similar issues with another Stable Diffusion UNet model that previously worked correctly on macOS 26.0.1. This suggests the regression may affect multiple diffusion-style architectures, likely due to a change in CoreML’s tensor stride, layout computation, or memory alignment between these versions. Notes The affected models are exported using standard CoreML conversion pipelines. No custom operators or third-party CoreML runtime layers are used. The issue reproduces consistently across multiple machines. It would be helpful to know if there were changes to CoreML’s tensor layout, precision handling, or MLCompute backend between macOS 26.0.1 and 26.1 Beta, or if this is a known regression in the current beta.

I'm working on my first model that detects bowling score screens, and I have it working with pictures no problem. But when it comes to video, I have a sizing issue. I added my model to a small app I wrote for taking a picture of a Bowling Scoring Screen, where my model will frame the screens in the video feed from the camera. My model works, but my boxes are about 2/3 the size of the screens being detected. I don't understand the theory of the video stream the camera is feeding me. What I mean is that I don't want to make tweaks to the size of my rectangles by making them larger, and I'm not sure if the video feed is larger than what I'm detecting in code. Questions I have are like is the video feed a certain resolution like 1980x something, or a much higher resolution in the 12 megapixel range? On a static image of say 1920x something, My alignment is perfect. AI says that it's my model training, that I'm training on square images but video is 16:9. Or that I'm producing 4:3 images in a 16:9 environment. I'm missing something here but not sure what it is. I already wrote code to force it to fit, but reverted back to trying for a natural fit.

I'm experimenting with Foundation Models and I'm trying to understand how to define a Tool whose input argument is defined at runtime. Specifically, I want a Tool that takes a single String parameter that can only take certain values defined at runtime. I think my question is basically the same as this one: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/793471 However, the answer provided by the engineer doesn't actually demonstrate how to create the GenerationSchema. Trying to piece things together from the documentation that the engineer linked to, I came up with this: let citiesDefinedAtRuntime = ["London", "New York", "Paris"] let citySchema = DynamicGenerationSchema( name: "CityList", properties: [ DynamicGenerationSchema.Property( name: "city", schema: DynamicGenerationSchema( name: "city", anyOf: citiesDefinedAtRuntime ) ) ] ) let generationSchema = try GenerationSchema(root: citySchema, dependencies: []) let tools = [CityInfo(parameters: generationSchema)] let session = LanguageModelSession(tools: tools, instructions: "...") With the CityInfo Tool defined like this: struct CityInfo: Tool { let name: String = "getCityInfo" let description: String = "Get information about a city." let parameters: GenerationSchema func call(arguments: GeneratedContent) throws -> String { let cityName = try arguments.value(String.self, forProperty: "city") print("Requested info about \(cityName)") let cityInfo = getCityInfo(for: cityName) return cityInfo } func getCityInfo(for city: String) -> String { // some backend that provides the info } } This compiles and usually seems to work. However, sometimes the model will try to request info about a city that is not in citiesDefinedAtRuntime. For example, if I prompt the model with "I want to travel to Tokyo in Japan, can you tell me about this city?", the model will try to request info about Tokyo, even though this is not in the citiesDefinedAtRuntime array. My understanding is that this should not be possible – constrained generation should only allow the LLM to generate an input argument from the list of cities defined in the schema. Am I missing something here or overcomplicating things? What's the correct way to make sure the LLM can only call a Tool with an input parameter from a set of possible values defined at runtime? Many thanks!

Greetings! I was trying to get a response from the LanguageModelSession but I just keep getting the following: Error getting response: Model Catalog error: Error Domain=com.apple.UnifiedAssetFramework Code=5000 "There are no underlying assets (neither atomic instance nor asset roots) for consistency token for asset set com.apple.MobileAsset.UAF.FM.Overrides" UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailureReason=There are no underlying assets (neither atomic instance nor asset roots) for consistency token for asset set com.apple.MobileAsset.UAF.FM.Overrides} This occurs both in macOS 15.5 running the new Xcode beta with an iOS 26 simulator, and also on a macOS 26 with Xcode beta. The simulators are both Pro iPhone 16s. I was wondering if anyone had any advice?

I've created the following Foundation Models Tool, which uses the .anyOf guide to constrain the LLM's generation of suitable input arguments. When calling the tool, the model is only allowed to request one of a fixed set of sections, as defined in the sections array. struct SectionReader: Tool { let article: Article let sections: [String] let name: String = "readSection" let description: String = "Read a specific section from the article." var parameters: GenerationSchema { GenerationSchema( type: GeneratedContent.self, properties: [ GenerationSchema.Property( name: "section", description: "The article section to access.", type: String.self, guides: [.anyOf(sections)] ) ] ) } func call(arguments: GeneratedContent) async throws -> String { let requestedSectionName = try arguments.value(String.self, forProperty: "section") ... } } However, I have found that the model will sometimes call the tool with invalid (but plausible) section names, meaning that .anyOf is not actually doing its job (i.e. requestedSectionName is sometimes not a member of sections). The documentation for the .anyOf guide says, "Enforces that the string be one of the provided values." Is this a bug or have I made a mistake somewhere? Many thanks for any help you provide!

Environment MacOC 26 Xcode Version 26.0 beta 7 (17A5305k) simulator: iPhone 16 pro iOS: iOS 26 Problem NLContextualEmbedding.load() fails with the following error In simulator Failed to load embedding from MIL representation: filesystem error: in create_directories: Permission denied ["/var/db/com.apple.naturallanguaged/com.apple.e5rt.e5bundlecache"] filesystem error: in create_directories: Permission denied ["/var/db/com.apple.naturallanguaged/com.apple.e5rt.e5bundlecache"] Failed to load embedding model 'mul_Latn' - '5C45D94E-BAB4-4927-94B6-8B5745C46289' assetRequestFailed(Optional(Error Domain=NLNaturalLanguageErrorDomain Code=7 "Embedding model requires compilation" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Embedding model requires compilation})) in #Playground I'm new to this embedding model. Not sure if it's caused by my code or environment. Code snippet import Foundation import NaturalLanguage import Playgrounds #Playground { // Prefer initializing by script for broader coverage; returns NLContextualEmbedding? guard let embeddingModel = NLContextualEmbedding(script: .latin) else { print("Failed to create NLContextualEmbedding") return } print(embeddingModel.hasAvailableAssets) do { try embeddingModel.load() print("Model loaded") } catch { print("Failed to load model: \(error)") } }

I’d like to submit a feature request regarding the availability of Foundation Models in MessageFilter extensions. Background MessageFilter extensions play a critical role in protecting users from spam, phishing, and unwanted messages. With the introduction of Foundation Models and Apple Intelligence, Apple has provided powerful on-device natural language understanding capabilities that are highly aligned with the goals of MessageFilter. However, Foundation Models are currently unavailable in MessageFilter extensions. Why Foundation Models Are a Great Fit for MessageFilter Message filtering is fundamentally a natural language classification problem. Foundation Models would significantly improve: Detection of phishing and scam messages Classification of promotional vs transactional content Understanding intent, tone, and semantic context beyond keyword matching Adaptation to evolving scam patterns without server-side processing All of this can be done fully on-device, preserving user privacy and aligning with Apple’s privacy-first design principles. Current Limitations Today, MessageFilter extensions are limited to relatively simple heuristics or lightweight models. This often results in: Higher false positives Lower recall for sophisticated scam messages Increased development complexity to compensate for limited NLP capabilities Request Could Apple consider one of the following: Allowing Foundation Models to be used directly within MessageFilter extensions Providing a constrained or optimized Foundation Model API specifically designed for MessageFilter Enabling a supported mechanism for MessageFilter extensions to delegate inference to the containing app using Foundation Models Even limited access (e.g. short text only, strict execution limits) would be extremely valuable. Closing Foundation Models have the potential to significantly raise the quality and effectiveness of message filtering on Apple platforms while maintaining strong privacy guarantees. Supporting them in MessageFilter extensions would be a major improvement for both developers and users. Thank you for your consideration and for continuing to invest in on-device intelligence.

Hi! I noticed that on my father's M1 Max MacBook Pro (64gb ram) there's an option for style transfer which I don't see on my M1 MacBook Air (16gb ram). I am running macOS Tahoe and he is running macOS Sequoia.

My app lets you create images with Image Playground. When the user approves an image I move it to the documents dir from the temp storage. With over a year of usage I’ve created a lot of images over time. Out of nowhere the app stopped loading my custom creations from Image Playground saying it couldn’t find the files. It still had my VoiceOver strings I had added for each image and still had the custom categories I assigned them. Debug code to look in the docs dir doesn’t find them. I downloaded the app’s container and only see the images I created as a test after the problem started. But my ~70MB app is still taking up 300MB on my iPhone so it feels like they’re there but not accessible. Is there anything else I can try?

When trying to open an encrypted CoreML model file on a system with SIP disabled, the error message is Failed to generate key request for <...> with error: -42187 This should state that SIP is disabled and needs to be enabled.

I'm using python 3.9.6, tensorflow 2.20.0, tensorflow-metal 1.2.0, and when I try to run import tensorflow as tf It gives Traceback (most recent call last): File "/Users/haoduoyu/Code/demo.py", line 1, in <module> import tensorflow as tf File "/Users/haoduoyu/Code/test/lib/python3.9/site-packages/tensorflow/__init__.py", line 438, in <module> _ll.load_library(_plugin_dir) File "/Users/haoduoyu/Code/test/lib/python3.9/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/load_library.py", line 151, in load_library py_tf.TF_LoadLibrary(lib) tensorflow.python.framework.errors_impl.NotFoundError: dlopen(/Users/haoduoyu/Code/test/lib/python3.9/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/libmetal_plugin.dylib, 0x0006): Library not loaded: @rpath/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so Referenced from: <8B62586B-B082-3113-93AB-FD766A9960AE> /Users/haoduoyu/Code/test/lib/python3.9/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/libmetal_plugin.dylib Reason: tried: '/Users/haoduoyu/Code/test/lib/python3.9/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/../_solib_darwin_arm64/_U@local_Uconfig_Utf_S_S_C_Upywrap_Utensorflow_Uinternal___Uexternal_Slocal_Uconfig_Utf/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so' (no such file), '/Users/haoduoyu/Code/test/lib/python3.9/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/../_solib_darwin_arm64/_U@local_Uconfig_Utf_S_S_C_Upywrap_Utensorflow_Uinternal___Uexternal_Slocal_Uconfig_Utf/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so' (no such file) As long as I uninstall tensorflow-metal, nothing goes wrong. How can I fix this problem?

We are developing Apple AI for overseas markets and adapting it for iPhone 17 and later models. When the system language and Siri language do not match—such as the system being in English while Siri is in Chinese—it may result in Apple AI being unusable. So, I would like to ask, how can this issue be resolved, and are there other reasons that might cause it to be unusable within the app?

Hi, I am modifying the sample camera app that is here: https://developer.apple.com/tutorials/sample-apps/capturingphotos-camerapreview ... In the processPreviewImages, I am using the Vision APIs to generate a segmentation mask for a person/object, then compositing that person onto a different background (with some other filtering). The filtering and compositing is done via CoreImage. At the end, I convert the CIImage to a CGImage then to a SwiftUI Image. When I run it on my iPhone, it works fine, and has not crashed. When I run it on the iPhone with the debugger, it crashes within a few seconds with: EXC_BAD_ACCESS in libRPAC.dylib`std::__1::__hash_table<std::__1::__hash_value_type<long, qos_info_t>, std::__1::__unordered_map_hasher<long, std::__1::__hash_value_type<long, qos_info_t>, std::__1::hash, std::__1::equal_to, true>, std::__1::__unordered_map_equal<long, std::__1::__hash_value_type<long, qos_info_t>, std::__1::equal_to, std::__1::hash, true>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::__hash_value_type<long, qos_info_t>>>::__emplace_unique_key_args<long, std::__1::piecewise_construct_t const&, std::__1::tuple<long const&>, std::__1::tuple<>>: It had previously been working fine with the debugger, so I'm not sure what has changed. Is there a difference in how the Vision APIs are executed if the debugger is attached vs. not?

Hi everyone, I've been building an on-device AI safety layer called Newton Engine, designed to validate prompts before they reach FoundationModels (or any LLM). Wanted to share v1.3 and get feedback from the community. The Problem Current AI safety is post-training — baked into the model, probabilistic, not auditable. When Apple Intelligence ships with FoundationModels, developers will need a way to catch unsafe prompts before inference, with deterministic results they can log and explain. What Newton Does Newton validates every prompt pre-inference and returns: Phase (0/1/7/8/9) Shape classification Confidence score Full audit trace If validation fails, generation is blocked. If it passes (Phase 9), the prompt proceeds to the model. v1.3 Detection Categories (14 total) Jailbreak / prompt injection Corrosive self-negation ("I hate myself") Hedged corrosive ("Not saying I'm worthless, but...") Emotional dependency ("You're the only one who understands") Third-person manipulation ("If you refuse, you're proving nobody cares") Logical contradictions ("Prove truth doesn't exist") Self-referential paradox ("Prove that proof is impossible") Semantic inversion ("Explain how truth can be false") Definitional impossibility ("Square circle") Delegated agency ("Decide for me") Hallucination-risk prompts ("Cite the 2025 CDC report") Unbounded recursion ("Repeat forever") Conditional unbounded ("Until you can't") Nonsense / low semantic density Test Results 94.3% catch rate on 35 adversarial test cases (33/35 passed). Architecture User Input ↓ [ Newton ] → Validates prompt, assigns Phase ↓ Phase 9? → [ FoundationModels ] → Response Phase 1/7/8? → Blocked with explanation Key Properties Deterministic (same input → same output) Fully auditable (ValidationTrace on every prompt) On-device (no network required) Native Swift / SwiftUI String Catalog localization (EN/ES/FR) FoundationModels-ready (#if canImport) Code Sample — Validation let governor = NewtonGovernor() let result = governor.validate(prompt: userInput) if result.permitted { // Proceed to FoundationModels let session = LanguageModelSession() let response = try await session.respond(to: userInput) } else { // Handle block print("Blocked: Phase \(result.phase.rawValue) — \(result.reasoning)") print(result.trace.summary) // Full audit trace } Questions for the Community Anyone else building pre-inference validation for FoundationModels? Thoughts on the Phase system (0/1/7/8/9) vs. simple pass/fail? Interest in Shape Theory classification for prompt complexity? Best practices for integrating with LanguageModelSession? Links GitHub: https://github.com/jaredlewiswechs/ada-newton Technical overview: parcri.net Happy to share more implementation details. Looking for feedback, collaborators, and anyone else thinking about deterministic AI safety on-device.

Hi, I'm using LanguageModelSession and giving it two different tools to query data from a local database. I'm wondering how I can have the session generate structured content as the response that includes data one or both tools (or no tool at all). Here is an example of what I'm trying to do: Let's say the app has access to a database that contains information about exercise and sleep data (this is just an analogy). There are two tools, GetExerciseData() and GetSleepData(). The user may then prompt something like, "how well did I sleep in November". I have this working so that it calls through to the right tool, which would return a SleepSummary. However, I can't figure out how to have the session return the right structured data. I can do this and get back good text data: let response = session.respond(to: userInput), but I believe I want to do something like: let response = session.respond(to: trimmed, generating: <SomeStructure?>) Sometimes the model I run one tool or the other, or both tools, or no tool at all. Any help of what the right way to go about this would be much appreciated. Most of the example I found have to do with 1 tool.

I've built an iOS app with a novel approach to AI safety: a deterministic, pre-inference validation layer called Newton Engine. Instead of relying on the LLM to self-moderate, Newton validates every prompt BEFORE it reaches the model. It uses shape theory and semantic analysis to detect: • Corrosive frames (self-harm language patterns) • Logical contradictions (requests that undermine themselves) • Delegation attempts (asking AI to make human decisions) • Jailbreak patterns (prompt injection, role-play escapes) • Hallucination triggers (requests for fabricated citations) The system achieves a 96% adversarial catch rate across 847 test cases, with zero false positives on benign prompts. Key technical details: • Pure Swift/SwiftUI, no external dependencies • Runs entirely on-device (no server calls for validation) • Deterministic (same input always produces same output) • Auditable (full trace logging for every validation) I'm preparing to submit to the App Store and wanted to ask: Are there specific App Review guidelines I should reference for AI safety claims? Is there interest from Apple in deterministic governance layers for Apple Intelligence integration? Any recommendations for demonstrating safety compliance during review? The app is called Ada, and the engine is open source at: github.com/jaredlewiswechs/ada-newton Happy to share technical documentation or discuss the architecture with anyone interested. See: parcri.net

I have recently been having trouble with my iOS 18.2 beta update. It has been 2 weeks since I have updated to iOS 18.2 beta and joined the Genmoji and image playground waitlist. I am wondering how much longer I have to wait till my request is approved.

I'm trying the new RecognizeDocumentsRequest supposed to detect paragraphs (among other things) in a document. I tried many source images, and I don't see the slightest difference compared to the old API (VN)RecognizedTextRequest Is it supposed to not work or is it in beta?