In an under-development MacOS & iOS app, I need to identify various measurements from OCR'ed text: length, weight, counts per inch, area, percentage. The unit type (e.g. UnitLength) needs to be identified as well as the measurement's unit (e.g. .inches) in order to convert the measurement to the app's internal standard (e.g. centimetres), the value of which is stored the relevant CoreData entity.
The use of NLTagger and NLTokenizer is problematic because of the various representations of the measurements: e.g. "50g.", "50 g", "50 grams", "1 3/4 oz."
Currently, I use a bespoke algorithm based on String contains and step-wise evaluation of characters, which is reasonably accurate but requires frequent updating as further representations are detected.
I'm aware of the Python SpaCy model being capable of NER Measurement recognition, but am reluctant to incorporate a Python-based solution into a production app. (ref [https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/30092])
My preference is for an open-source NER Measurement model that can be used as, or converted to, some form of a Swift compatible Machine Learning model. Does anyone know of such a model?
Explore the power of machine learning and Apple Intelligence within apps. Discuss integrating features, share best practices, and explore the possibilities for your app here.
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I have seen inconsistent results for my Colab machine learning notebooks running locally on a Mac M4, compared to running the same notebook code on either T4 (in Colab) or a RTX3090 locally.
To illustrate the problems I have set up a notebook that implements two simple CNN models that solves the Fashion-MNIST problem. https://colab.research.google.com/drive/11BhtHhN079-BWqv9QvvcSD9U4mlVSocB?usp=sharing
For the good model with 2M parameters I get the following results:
T4 (Colab, JAX): Test accuracy: 0.925
3090 (Local PC via ssh tunnel, Jax): Test accuracy: 0.925
Mac M4 (Local, JAX): Test accuracy: 0.893
Mac M4 (Local, Tensorflow): Test accuracy: 0.893
That is, I see a significant drop in performance when I run on the Mac M4 compared to the NVIDIA machines, and it seems to be independent of backend. I however do not know how to pinpoint this to either Keras or Apple’s METAL implementation. I have reported this to Keras: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/11BhtHhN079-BWqv9QvvcSD9U4mlVSocB?usp=sharing but as this can be (likely is?) an Apple Metal issue, I wanted to report this here as well.
On the mac I am running the following Python libraries:
keras 3.9.1
tensorflow 2.19.0
tensorflow-metal 1.2.0
jax 0.5.3
jax-metal 0.1.1
jaxlib 0.5.3
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
General
I've spent way too long today trying to convert an Object Detection TensorFlow2 model to a CoreML object classifier (with bounding boxes, labels and probability score)
The 'SSD MobileNet v2 320x320' is here: https://github.com/tensorflow/models/blob/master/research/object_detection/g3doc/tf2_detection_zoo.md
And I've been following all sorts of posts and ChatGPT
https://apple.github.io/coremltools/docs-guides/source/tensorflow-2.html#convert-a-tensorflow-concrete-function
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2020/10153/?time=402
To convert it.
I keep hitting the same errors though, mostly around:
NotImplementedError: Expected model format: [SavedModel | concrete_function | tf.keras.Model | .h5 | GraphDef], got <ConcreteFunction signature_wrapper(input_tensor) at 0x366B87790>
I've had varying success including missing output labels/predictions.
But I simply want to create the CoreML model with all the right inputs and outputs (including correct names) as detailed in the docs here: https://github.com/tensorflow/models/blob/master/research/object_detection/g3doc/running_on_mobile_tf2.md
It goes without saying I don't have much (any) experience with this stuff including Python so the whole thing's been a bit of a headache.
If anyone is able to help that would be great.
FWIW I'm not attached to any one specific model, but what I do need at minimum is a CoreML model that can detect objects (has to at least include lights and lamps) within a live video image, detecting where in the image the object is.
The simplest script I have looks like this:
import coremltools as ct
import tensorflow as tf
model = tf.saved_model.load("~/tf_models/ssd_mobilenet_v2_320x320_coco17_tpu-8/saved_model")
concrete_func = model.signatures[tf.saved_model.DEFAULT_SERVING_SIGNATURE_DEF_KEY]
mlmodel = ct.convert(
concrete_func,
source="tensorflow",
inputs=[ct.TensorType(shape=(1, 320, 320, 3))]
)
mlmodel.save("YourModel.mlpackage", save_format="mlpackage")
I downloaded the new developer beta and then installed xcode. I did the downloads but I couldn't download the Predictive Code Completion Model. When I try to download it I get the error "The operation couldn’t be completed. (ModelCatalog.CatalogErrors.AssetErrors error 1.)". I am using the M3 Pro model.
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Apple Intelligence
I am writing a custom package wrapping Foundation Models which provides a chain-of-thought with intermittent self-evaluation among other things. At first I was designing this package with the command line in mind, but after seeing how well it augments the models and makes them more intelligent I wanted to try and build a SwiftUI wrapper around the package.
When I started I was using synchronous generation rather than streaming, but to give the best user experience (as I've seen in the WWDC sessions) it is necessary to provide constant feedback to the user that something is happening.
I have created a super simplified example of my setup so it's easier to understand.
First, there is the Reasoning conversation item, which can be converted to an XML representation which is then fed back into the model (I've found XML works best for structured input)
public typealias ConversationContext = XMLDocument
extension ConversationContext {
public func toPlainText() -> String {
return xmlString(options: [.nodePrettyPrint])
}
}
/// Represents a reasoning item in a conversation, which includes a title and reasoning content.
/// Reasoning items are used to provide detailed explanations or justifications for certain decisions or responses within a conversation.
@Generable(description: "A reasoning item in a conversation, containing content and a title.")
struct ConversationReasoningItem: ConversationItem {
@Guide(description: "The content of the reasoning item, which is your thinking process or explanation")
public var reasoningContent: String
@Guide(description: "A short summary of the reasoning content, digestible in an interface.")
public var title: String
@Guide(description: "Indicates whether reasoning is complete")
public var done: Bool
}
extension ConversationReasoningItem: ConversationContextProvider {
public func toContext() -> ConversationContext {
// <ReasoningItem title="${title}">
// ${reasoningContent}
// </ReasoningItem>
let root = XMLElement(name: "ReasoningItem")
root.addAttribute(XMLNode.attribute(withName: "title", stringValue: title) as! XMLNode)
root.stringValue = reasoningContent
return ConversationContext(rootElement: root)
}
}
Then there is the generator, which creates a reasoning item from a user query and previously generated items:
struct ReasoningItemGenerator {
var instructions: String {
"""
<omitted for brevity>
"""
}
func generate(from input: (String, [ConversationReasoningItem])) async throws -> sending LanguageModelSession.ResponseStream<ConversationReasoningItem> {
let session = LanguageModelSession(instructions: instructions)
// build the context for the reasoning item out of the user's query and the previous reasoning items
let userQuery = "User's query: \(input.0)"
let reasoningItemsText = input.1.map { $0.toContext().toPlainText() }.joined(separator: "\n")
let context = userQuery + "\n" + reasoningItemsText
let reasoningItemResponse = try await session.streamResponse(
to: context, generating: ConversationReasoningItem.self)
return reasoningItemResponse
}
}
I'm not sure if returning LanguageModelSession.ResponseStream<ConversationReasoningItem> is the right move, I am just trying to imitate what session.streamResponse returns.
Then there is the orchestrator, which I can't figure out. It receives the streamed ConversationReasoningItems from the Generator and is responsible for streaming those to SwiftUI later and also for evaluating each reasoning item after it is complete to see if it needs to be regenerated (to keep the model on-track). I want the users of the orchestrator to receive partially generated reasoning items as they are being generated by the generator. Later, when they finish, if the evaluation passes, the item is kept, but if it fails, the reasoning item should be removed from the stream before a new one is generated. So in-flight reasoning items should be outputted aggresively.
I really am having trouble figuring this out so if someone with more knowledge about asynchronous stuff in Swift, or- even better- someone who has worked on the Foundation Models framework could point me in the right direction, that would be awesome!
Hello All,
I’m working on a computer-vision–heavy iOS application that uses the camera, LiDAR depth maps, and semantic segmentation to reason about the environment (object identification, localization and measurement - not just visualization).
Current architecture
I initially built the image pipeline around CIImage as a unifying abstraction. It seemed like a good idea because:
CIImage integrates cleanly with Vision, ARKit, AVFoundation, Metal, Core Graphics, etc.
It provides a rich set of out-of-the-box transforms and filters.
It is immutable and thread-safe, which significantly simplified concurrency in a multi-queue pipeline.
The LiDAR depth maps, semantic segmentation masks, etc. were treated as CIImages, with conversion to CVPixelBuffer or MTLTexture only at the edges when required.
Problem
I’ve run into cases where Core Image transformations do not preserve numeric fidelity for non-visual data.
Example:
Rendering a CIImage-backed segmentation mask into a larger CVPixelBuffer can cause label values to change in predictable but incorrect ways.
This occurs even when:
using nearest-neighbor sampling
disabling color management (workingColorSpace / outputColorSpace = NSNull)
applying identity or simple affine transforms
I’ve confirmed via controlled tests that:
Metal → CVPixelBuffer paths preserve values correctly
CIImage → CVPixelBuffer paths can introduce value changes when resampling or expanding the render target
This makes CIImage unsafe as a source of numeric truth for segmentation masks and depth-based logic, even though it works well for visualization, and I should have realized this much sooner.
Direction I’m considering
I’m now considering refactoring toward more intent-based abstractions instead of a single image type, for example:
Visual images: CIImage (camera frames, overlays, debugging, UI)
Scalar fields: depth / confidence maps backed by CVPixelBuffer + Metal
Label maps: segmentation masks backed by integer-preserving buffers (no interpolation, no transforms)
In this model, CIImage would still be used extensively — but primarily for visualization and perceptual processing, not as the container for numerically sensitive data.
Thread safety concern
One of the original advantages of CIImage was that it is thread-safe by design, and that was my biggest incentive.
For CVPixelBuffer / MTLTexture–backed data, I’m considering enforcing thread safety explicitly via:
Swift Concurrency (actor-owned data, explicit ownership)
Questions
For those may have experience with CV / AR / imaging-heavy iOS apps, I was hoping to know the following:
Is this separation of image intent (visual vs numeric vs categorical) a reasonable architectural direction?
Do you generally keep CIImage at the heart of your pipeline, or push it to the edges (visualization only)?
How do you manage thread safety and ownership when working heavily with CVPixelBuffer and Metal? Using actor-based abstractions, GCD, or adhoc?
Are there any best practices or gotchas around using Core Image with depth maps or segmentation masks that I should be aware of?
I’d really appreciate any guidance or experience-based advice. I suspect I’ve hit a boundary of Core Image’s design, and I’m trying to refactor in a way that doesn't involve too much immediate tech debt, remains robust and maintainable long-term.
Thank you in advance!
Is the face and body detection service in the Vision framework a local model or a cloud model? Is there a performance report?
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/vision
Apologies if this is obvious to everyone but me... I'm using the Tahoe AI foundation models. When I get an error, I'm trying to handle it properly.
I see the errors described here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundationmodels/languagemodelsession/generationerror/context, as well as in the headers. But all I can figure out how to see is error.localizedDescription which doesn't give me much to go on.
For example, an error's description is:
The operation couldn’t be completed. (FoundationModels.LanguageModelSession.GenerationError error 2.
That doesn't give me much to go on. How do I get the actual error number/enum value out of this, short of parsing that text to look for the int at the end?
This one is:
case guardrailViolation(LanguageModelSession.GenerationError.Context)
So I'd like to know how to get from the catch for session.respond to something I can act on. I feel like it's there, but I'm missing it.
Thanks!
I have been able to train an adapter on Google's Colaboratory.
I am able to start a LanguageModelSession and load it with my adapter.
The problem is that after one simple prompt, the context window is 90% full.
If I start the session without the adapter, the same simple prompt consumes only 1% of the context window.
Has anyone encountered this? I asked Claude AI and it seems to think that my training script needs adjusting. Grok on the other hand is (wrongly, I tried) convinced that I just need to tweak some parameters of LanguageModelSession or SystemLanguageModel.
Thanks for any tips.
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Foundation Models
Hey
Tried using a few regular expressions and all fail with an error:
Unhandled error streaming response: A generation guide with an unsupported pattern was used.
Is there are a list of supported features? I don't see it in docs, and it takes RegExp.
Anything with e.g. [A-Z] fails.
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Foundation Models
Hi everyone,
I’m currently exploring the use of Foundation models on Apple platforms to build a chatbot-style assistant within an app. While the integration part is straightforward using the new FoundationModel APIs, I’m trying to figure out how to control the assistant’s responses more tightly — particularly:
Ensuring the assistant adheres to a specific tone, context, or domain (e.g. hospitality, healthcare, etc.)
Preventing hallucinations or unrelated outputs
Constraining responses based on app-specific rules, structured data, or recent interactions
I’ve experimented with prompt, systemMessage, and few-shot examples to steer outputs, but even with carefully generated prompts, the model occasionally produces incorrect or out-of-scope responses.
Additionally, when using multiple tools, I'm unsure how best to structure the setup so the model can select the correct pathway/tool and respond appropriately. Is there a recommended approach to guiding the model's decision-making when several tools or structured contexts are involved?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts or being pointed toward related WWDC sessions, Apple docs, or sample projects.
Here's the result:
Very weird.
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Foundation Models
In my quantization code, the line:
compressed_model_a8 = cto.coreml.experimental.linear_quantize_activations(
model, activation_config, [{'img':np.random.randn(1,13,1024,1024)}]
)
has taken 90 minutes to run so far and is still not completed. From debugging, I can see that the line it's stuck on is line 261 in _model_debugger.py:
model = ct.models.MLModel(
cloned_spec,
weights_dir=self.weights_dir,
compute_units=compute_units,
skip_model_load=False, # Don't skip model load as we need model prediction to get activations range.
)
Is this expected behaviour? Would it be quicker to run on another computer with more RAM?
When I am doing an uncached load of CoreML model on ANE, I received this warning in Xcode console
Type of hiddenStates in function main's I/O contains unknown strides. Using unknown strides for MIL tensor buffers with unknown shapes is not recommended in E5ML. Please use row_alignment_in_bytes property instead. Refer to https://e5-ml.apple.com/more-info/memory-layouts.html for more information.
However, the web link does not seem to be working. Where can I find more information about about this and how can I fix it?
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Core ML
In this online session, you can code along with us as we build generative AI features into a sample app live in Xcode. We'll guide you through implementing core features like basic text generation, as well as advanced topics like guided generation for structured data output, streaming responses for dynamic UI updates, and tool calling to retrieve data or take an action.
Check out these resources to get started:
Download the project files: https://developer.apple.com/events/re...
Explore the code along guide: https://developer.apple.com/events/re...
Join the live Q&A: https://developer.apple.com/videos/pl...
Agenda – All times PDT
10 a.m.: Welcome and Xcode setup
10:15 a.m.: Framework basics, guided generation, and building prompts
11 a.m.: Break
11:10 a.m.: UI streaming, tool calling, and performance optimization
11:50 a.m.: Wrap up
All are welcome to attend the session. To actively code along, you'll need a Mac with Apple silicon that supports Apple Intelligence running the latest release of macOS Tahoe 26 and Xcode 26.
If you have questions after the code along concludes please share a post here in the forums and engage with the community.
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Foundation Models
Hi, I am a new IOS developer, trying to learn to integrate the Apple Foundation Model.
my set up is:
Mac M1 Pro
MacOS 26 Beta
Version 26.0 beta 3
Apple Intelligence & Siri --> On
here is the code,
func generate() {
Task {
isGenerating = true
output = "⏳ Thinking..."
do {
let session = LanguageModelSession( instructions: """
Extract time from a message. Example
Q: Golfing at 6PM
A: 6PM
""")
let response = try await session.respond(to: "Go to gym at 7PM")
output = response.content
} catch {
output = "❌ Error:, \(error)"
print(output)
}
isGenerating = false
}
and I get these errors
guardrailViolation(FoundationModels.LanguageModelSession.GenerationError.Context(debugDescription: "Prompt may contain sensitive or unsafe content", underlyingErrors: [Asset com.apple.gm.safety_embedding_deny.all not found in Model Catalog]))
Can you help me get through this?
While runninf Apple Foundation Model in iPhone simulator, I got this error:
IPC error: Underlying connection interrupted
What does this mean? Related to foundation model?
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Foundation Models
Is it possible to train a model using CreateML to infer a relevance numeric score of a news article based on similar trained data, something like a sentiment score ? I created a Text Classifier that assigns a category label which works perfect but I would like a solution that calculates a numeric value, not a label.
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Create ML
Hey,
When generating responses with structured output and non-streaming API, it sometimes takes 3s, sometimes 10-20s. I am firing that request subsequently while testing the app.
Is this by design, or any place I can learn more about what contributes to such variation?
Topic:
Machine Learning & AI
SubTopic:
Foundation Models
Hi,
I'm not sure whether this is the appropriate forum for this topic. I just followed a link from the JAX Metal plugin page https://developer.apple.com/metal/jax/
I'm writing a Python app with JAX, and recent JAX versions fail on Metal. E.g. v0.8.2
I have to downgrade JAX pretty hard to make it work:
pip install jax==0.4.35 jaxlib==0.4.35 jax-metal==0.1.1
Can we get an updated release of jax-metal that would fix this issue?
Here is the error I get with JAX v0.8.2:
WARNING:2025-12-26 09:55:28,117:jax._src.xla_bridge:881: Platform 'METAL' is experimental and not all JAX functionality may be correctly supported!
WARNING: All log messages before absl::InitializeLog() is called are written to STDERR
W0000 00:00:1766771728.118004 207582 mps_client.cc:510] WARNING: JAX Apple GPU support is experimental and not all JAX functionality is correctly supported!
Metal device set to: Apple M3 Max
systemMemory: 36.00 GB
maxCacheSize: 13.50 GB
I0000 00:00:1766771728.129886 207582 service.cc:145] XLA service 0x600001fad300 initialized for platform METAL (this does not guarantee that XLA will be used). Devices:
I0000 00:00:1766771728.129893 207582 service.cc:153] StreamExecutor device (0): Metal, <undefined>
I0000 00:00:1766771728.130856 207582 mps_client.cc:406] Using Simple allocator.
I0000 00:00:1766771728.130864 207582 mps_client.cc:384] XLA backend will use up to 28990554112 bytes on device 0 for SimpleAllocator.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
import jax; print(jax.numpy.arange(10))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/numpy/lax_numpy.py", line 5951, in arange
return _arange(start, stop=stop, step=step, dtype=dtype,
out_sharding=sharding)
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/numpy/lax_numpy.py", line 6012, in _arange
return lax.broadcasted_iota(dtype, (size,), 0, out_sharding=out_sharding)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/lax/lax.py", line 3415, in broadcasted_iota
return iota_p.bind(dtype=dtype, shape=shape,
~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
dimension=dimension, sharding=out_sharding)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/core.py", line 633, in bind
return self._true_bind(*args, **params)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/core.py", line 649, in _true_bind
return self.bind_with_trace(prev_trace, args, params)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/core.py", line 661, in bind_with_trace
return trace.process_primitive(self, args, params)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/core.py", line 1210, in process_primitive
return primitive.impl(*args, **params)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/florin/git/FlorinAndrei/star-cluster-simulator/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/jax/_src/dispatch.py", line 91, in apply_primitive
outs = fun(*args)
jax.errors.JaxRuntimeError: UNKNOWN: -:0:0: error: unknown attribute code: 22
-:0:0: note: in bytecode version 6 produced by: StableHLO_v1.13.0
--------------------
For simplicity, JAX has removed its internal frames from the traceback of the following exception. Set JAX_TRACEBACK_FILTERING=off to include these.
I0000 00:00:1766771728.149951 207582 mps_client.h:209] MetalClient destroyed.