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, I have been trying to integrate a CoreML model into Xcode. The model was made using tensorflow layers. I have included both the model info and a link to the app repository. I am mainly just really confused on why its not working. It seems to only be printing the result for case 1 (there are 4 cases labled, case 0, case 1, case 2, and case 3). If someone could help work me through this error that would be great! here is the link to the repository: https://github.com/ShivenKhurana1/Detect-to-Protect-App this file with the model code is called SecondView.swift and here is the model info: Input: conv2d_input-> image (color 224x224) Output: Identity -> MultiArray (Float32 1x4)

I'm developing a tennis ball tracking feature using Vision Framework in Swift, specifically utilizing VNDetectedObjectObservation and VNTrackObjectRequest. Occasionally (but not always), I receive the following runtime error: Failed to perform SequenceRequest: Error Domain=com.apple.Vision Code=9 "Internal error: unexpected tracked object bounding box size" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Internal error: unexpected tracked object bounding box size} From my investigation, I suspect the issue arises when the bounding box from the initial observation (VNDetectedObjectObservation) is too small. However, Apple's documentation doesn't clearly define the minimum bounding box size that's considered valid by VNTrackObjectRequest. Could someone clarify: What is the minimum acceptable bounding box width and height (normalized) that Vision Framework's VNTrackObjectRequest expects? Is there any recommended practice or official guidance for bounding box size validation before creating a tracking request? This information would be extremely helpful to reliably avoid this internal error. Thank you!

I used Yolo5-11 and while performing great detecting balls lets say 5-10ft away in 1920 resolution and even in 640 it really is taking toll on my app performance. When I use Create ML it outputs all in 415x which is probably the reason why it does not detect objects from far. What can I do to preserve some energy ? My model is used with about 1K pictures 200 each test and validate, and from close up and far.

Hello, I'm trying to write a model with PyTorch and convert it to CoreML. I wrote another models and that works succesfully, even the one that gave the problem is, but I can't visualize it with XCode to know where is running. The error that appear is: There was a problem decoding this Core ML document validator error: unable to open file for read Anyone knows why is this happening? Thanks a lot, Álvaro Corrochano

Recently, I'm trying to deploy some third-party LLM to Apple devices. The methodoloy is similar to https://github.com/Anemll/Anemll. The biggest issue I'm having now is the runtime memory usage. When there are multiple functions in a model (mlpackage or mlmodelc), the runtime memory usage for weights is somehow duplicated when I load all of them. Here's the detail: I created my multifunction mlpackage following https://apple.github.io/coremltools/docs-guides/source/multifunction-models.html I loaded each of the functions using the generated swift class: let config = MLModelConfiguration() config.computeUnits = MLComputeUnits.cpuAndNeuralEngine config.functionName = "infer_512"; let ffn1_infer_512 = try! mimo_FFN_PF_lut4_chunk_01of02(configuration: config) config.functionName = "infer_1024"; let ffn1_infer_1024 = try! mimo_FFN_PF_lut4_chunk_01of02(configuration: config) config.functionName = "infer_2048"; let ffn1_infer_2048 = try! mimo_FFN_PF_lut4_chunk_01of02(configuration: config) I observed that RAM usage increases linearly as I load each of the functions. Using instruments, I see that there are multiple HWX files generated and loaded, each of which contains all the weight data. My understanding of what's happening here: The CoreML framework did some MIL->MIL preprocessing before further compilation, which includes separating CPU workload from ANE workload. The ANE part of each function is moved into a separate MIL file then compile separately into a HWX file each. The problem is that the weight data of these HWX files are duplicated. Since that the weight data of LLMs is huge, it will cause out-of-memory issue on mobile devices. The improvement I'm hoping from Apple: I hope we can try to merge the processed MIL files back into one before calling ANECCompile(), so that the weights can be merged. I don't have control over that in user space and I'm not sure if that is feasible. So I'm asking for help here. Thanks.

Hi friends, I have just found that the inference speed dropped to only 1/10 of the original model. Had anyone encountered this? Thank you.

Hi, DataScannerViewController does't recognize currencies less than 1.00 (e.g. 0.59 USD, 0.99 EUR, etc.). Why? How to solve the problem? This feature is not described in Apple documentation, is there a solution? This is my code: func makeUIViewController(context: Context) -> DataScannerViewController { let dataScanner = DataScannerViewController(recognizedDataTypes: [ .text(textContentType: .currency)]) return dataScanner }

I followed below url for converting Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct model but always fails even i have 64GB of free space after downloading model from huggingface. https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/core-ml-on-device-llama Also tried with other models Llama-3.1-1B-Instruct & Llama-3.1-3B-Instruct models those are converted but while doing performance test in xcode fails for all compunits. Is there any source code to run llama models in ios app.

Hi, One can configure the languages of a (VN)RecognizeTextRequest with either: .automatic: language to be detected a specific language, say Spanish If the request is configured with .automatic and successfully detects Spanish, will the results be exactly equivalent compared to a request made with Spanish set as language? I could not find any information about this, and this is very important for the core architecture of my app. Thanks!

I’m considering creating an ILMessageFilterExtension using a mini LLM/SLM to detect fraud and I’ve read it has strict memory limits yet I can’t find it in the documentation. What’s the set limit or any other constraints impacting the feasibility of running 100-500mb model?

Hi Apple product owners. I am missing a unified concept which might be derived from the use cases for mail categories and mail spam for the app "Mail" on Mac. I need a recommendation on how to use categories in combination with the spam filter to get most out of it. So I was looking for the use cases for the 2 functionality areas in order to figure out how to organise my mails by using as much automation as possible before I start creating intelligent folders in addition. What can you recommend where I get this information from? I don't want to guess or read a lot of forum contributions which are based on guesses.

From tensorflow-metal example: Created TensorFlow device (/job:localhost/replica:0/task:0/device:GPU:0 with 0 MB memory) -> physical PluggableDevice (device: 0, name: METAL, pci bus id: ) I know that Apple silicon uses UMA, and that memory copies are typical of CUDA, but wouldn't the GPU memory still be faster overall? I have an iMac Pro with a Radeon Pro Vega 64 16 GB GPU and an Intel iMac with a Radeon Pro 5700 8 GB GPU. But using tensorflow-metal is still WAY faster than using the CPUs. Thanks for that. I am surprised the 5700 is twice as fast as the Vega though.

Hi everyone! 👋 I'm working on a C++ project using TensorFlow Lite and was wondering if anyone has a prebuilt TensorFlow Lite C++ library (libtensorflowlite) for macOS (Apple Silicon M1/M2) that they’d be willing to share. I’m looking specifically for the TensorFlow Lite C++ API — something that lets me use tflite::Interpreter, tflite::FlatBufferModel, etc. Building it from source using Bazel on macOS has been quite challenging and time-consuming, so a ready-to-use .dylib or .a build along with the required headers would be incredibly helpful. TensorFlow Lite version: v2.18.0 preferred Target: macOS arm64 (Apple Silicon) What I need: libtensorflowlite.dylib or .a Corresponding headers (ideally organized in a clean include/ folder) If you have one available or know where I can find a reliable prebuilt version, I’d be super grateful. Thanks in advance! 🙏

I've been struggling and Siri support to an application. I have developed it kept getting this error when I run it on MacOS: Failed to refresh AppShortcut parameters with error: Error Domain=Foundation._GenericObjCError Code=0 "(null)" So I found AppIntentsSampleApp and downloaded and buil it and I get a similar, but larger, error: Failed to refresh AppShortcut parameters with error: Error Domain=RBSServiceErrorDomain Code=1 "(originator doesn't have entitlement com.apple.private.xpc.launchd.app-server AND originator doesn't have entitlement com.apple.assertiond.system-shell AND originator doesn't have entitlement com.apple.runningboard.launchprocess)" UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailureReason=(originator doesn't have entitlement com.apple.private.xpc.launchd.app-server AND originator doesn't have entitlement com.apple.assertiond.system-shell AND j And it goes on and on. What am I missing? I'm using Xcode 16. I don't see an option to add a Siri framework. I have tried adding both the intent and tap, intent frameworks, which does not seem to make a difference.

Hi! I'm trying to use the ImagePlayground API in SwiftUI with the .imagePlaygroundSheet modifier. However, when the sheet is shown (in the preview or in the simulator) it displays the following message: "Image Playground is not available. Image Playground is not available on this iPhone.". I'm using an iPhone 16 Pro with iOS 18.3.1 in the Xcode (16.2) Simulator. Anyone else having this problem? How can I fix it?

Hi, i just wanna ask, Is it possible to run YOLOv3 on visionOS using the main camera to detect objects and show bounding boxes with labels in real-time? I’m wondering if camera access and custom models work for this, or if there’s a better way. Any tips?

Hi, I am new to developing on Apple’s platform yet I want to familiarize myself with Core ML and Core ML Tools. I was watching the WWDC24: Bring your machine learning and AI models to Apple Silicon video and was trying to follow along. After multiple attempts and much reading up on documentation, I am still unable to get a coherent script running that will convert the Mistral model that the host used and convert it to a valid Core ML model. here is a pastebin to what i have currently: https://pastebin.com/04cVjF1v if you require the output as well please let me know

*I can't put the attached file in the format, so if you reply by e-mail, I will send the attached file by e-mail. Dear Apple AI Research Team, My name is Gong Jiho (“Hem”), a content strategist based in Seoul, South Korea. Over the past few months, I conducted a user-led AI experiment entirely within ChatGPT — no code, no backend tools, no plugins. Through language alone, I created two contrasting agents (Uju and Zero) and guided them into a co-authored modular identity system using prompt-driven dialogue and reflection. This system simulates persona fusion, memory rooting, and emotional-logical alignment — all via interface-level interaction. I believe it resonates with Apple’s values in privacy-respecting personalization, emotional UX modeling, and on-device learning architecture. Why I’m Reaching Out I’d be honored to share this experiment with your team. If there is any interest in discussing user-authored agent scaffolding, identity persistence, or affective alignment, I’d love to contribute — even informally. ⚠ A Note on Language As a non-native English speaker, my expression may be imperfect — but my intent is genuine. If anything is unclear, I’ll gladly clarify. 📎 Attached Files Summary Filename → Description Hem_MultiAI_Report_AppleAI_v20250501.pdf → Main report tailored for Apple AI — narrative + structural view of emotional identity formation via prompt scaffolding Hem_MasterPersonaProfile_v20250501.json → Final merged identity schema authored by Uju and Zero zero_sync_final.json / uju_sync_final.json → Persona-level memory structures (logic / emotion) 1_0501.json ~ 3_0501.json → Evolution logs of the agents over time GirlfriendGPT_feedback_summary.txt → Emotional interpretation by external GPT hem_profile_for_AI_vFinal.json → Original user anchor profile Warm regards, Gong Jiho (“Hem”) Seoul, South Korea

I’m trying to follow Apple’s “WWDC24: Bring your machine learning and AI models to Apple Silicon” session to convert the Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2 model into a Core ML package, but I’ve run into a roadblock that I can’t seem to overcome. I’ve uploaded my full conversion script here for reference: https://pastebin.com/T7Zchzfc When I run the script, it progresses through tracing and MIL conversion but then fails at the backend_mlprogram stage with this error: https://pastebin.com/fUdEzzKM The core of the error is: ValueError: Op "keyCache_tmp" (op_type: identity) Input x="keyCache" expects list, tensor, or scalar but got state[tensor[1,32,8,2048,128,fp16]] I’ve registered my KV-cache buffers in a StatefulMistralWrapper subclass of nn.Module, matching the keyCache and valueCache state names in my ct.StateType definitions, but Core ML’s backend pass reports the state tensor as an invalid input. I’m using Core ML Tools 8.3.0 on Python 3.9.6, targeting iOS18, and forcing CPU conversion (MPS wasn’t available). Any pointers on how to satisfy the handle_unused_inputs pass or properly declare/cache state for GQA models in Core ML would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help, Usman Khan

I have an app that uses a couple of mlmodels (word tagger and gazetteer) and I’m trying to encrypt them before publishing. The models are part of a package. I understand that Xcode can’t automatically handle the encryption for a model in a package the way it can within a traditional app structure. Given that, I’ve generated the Apple MLModel encryption key from Xcode and am encrypting via the command line with: xcrun coremlcompiler compile Gazetteer.mlmodel GazetteerENC.mlmodelc --encrypt Gazetteerkey.mlmodelkey In the package manifest, I’ve listed the encrypted models as .copy resources for my target and have verified the URL to that file is good. When I try to load the encrypted .mlmodelc file (on a physical device) with the line:
 gazetteer = try NLGazetteer(contentsOf: gazetteerURL!) I get the error: Failed to open file: /…/Scanner.bundle/GazetteerENC.mlmodelc/coremldata.bin. It is not a valid .mlmodelc file. So my questions are: Does the NLGazetteer class support encrypted MLModel files? Given that my models are in a package, do I have the right general approach? Thanks for any help or thoughts.