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A Summary of the WWDC25 Group Lab - Machine Learning and AI Frameworks
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.
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Access to sound classification for app running in background
Can access to SoundAnalysis (sound classifier built into next version of MacOS, iOS, WatchOS) be provided to my app running in the background on iPhone or Apple Watch? I want to monitor local sounds from Apple Watch and iPhones and take remote action for out of band data (ie. send alert to caregiver if coughing rate is too high, or if someone is knocking on the door for more than a minute, etc.)
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Sep ’21
Ho to export a PyTorch model to CoreML model for usage in a iOS App
Hi, as showed in the course I created the PyTorch model sample and want to export / convert this model o a CoreML iOS Model using the coremltools. Input is a 224x224 image and output is a image classification (3 different classes) I am using coremltools for this with this code: import coremltools as ct modelml = ct.convert( scripted_model, inputs=[ct.ImageType(shape=(1,3,224,244))] ) I have a working iOS App code which performs with another model which was created using Microsoft Azure Vision. The PyTorch exported model is loaded and a prediction is performed, but I am getting this error: Foundation.MonoTouchException: Objective-C exception thrown. Name: NSInvalidArgumentException Reason: -[VNCoreMLFeatureValueObservation identifier]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x2805dd3b0 When I check the exported model with Xcode and compare it with another model which is working with the sample iOS App code (created and exported from Microsoft Azure) I can see that the input (for image classification using the device camera) seems ok and is equal, but the output is totally different. (see screenshots) The working model has two outputs: loss => Dictionary (String => Double) classLabel => String My exported model using coremltools just has one export: MultiArray(Float32) (name var_1620, I think this is the last feature layer output of the EfficentNetB2) How do I change my model or my coremltools export to get the correct output for the prediction ? I read the coreml documentation (https://coremltools.readme.io/docs/pytorch-conversion) and tried some GitHub samples. But I never get the correct output. How do I export the PyTorch model so that the output is correct and the prediction will work ? Best Marco
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Jan ’23
Getting ValueError: Categorical Cross Entropy loss layer input (Identity) must be a softmax layer output.
I am working on the neural network classifier provided on the coremltools.readme.io in the updatable->neural network section(https://coremltools.readme.io/docs/updatable-neural-network-classifier-on-mnist-dataset). I am using the same code but I get an error saying that the coremltools.converters.keras.convert does not exist. But this I know can be coreml version issue. Right know I am using coremltools version 6.2. I converted this model to mlmodel with .convert only. It got converted successfully. But I face an error in the make_updatable function saying the loss layer must be softmax output. Even the coremlt package API reference there I found its because the layer name is softmaxND but it should be softmax. Now the problem is when I convert the model from Keras sequential model to coreml model. the layer name and type change. And the softmax changes to softmaxND. Does anyone faced this issue? if I execute this builder.inspect_layers(last=4) I get this output [Id: 32], Name: sequential/dense_1/Softmax (Type: softmaxND) Updatable: False Input blobs: ['sequential/dense_1/MatMul'] Output blobs: ['Identity'] [Id: 31], Name: sequential/dense_1/MatMul (Type: batchedMatmul) Updatable: False Input blobs: ['sequential/dense/Relu'] Output blobs: ['sequential/dense_1/MatMul'] [Id: 30], Name: sequential/dense/Relu (Type: activation) Updatable: False Input blobs: ['sequential/dense/MatMul'] Output blobs: ['sequential/dense/Relu'] In the make_updatable function when I execute builder.set_categorical_cross_entropy_loss(name='lossLayer', input='Identity') I get this error ValueError: Categorical Cross Entropy loss layer input (Identity) must be a softmax layer output.
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Apr ’23
SFSpeechRecognitionResult discards previous transcripts with on-device option set to true
Hi everyone, I might need some help with on-device recognition. It seems that the speech recognition task will discard whatever it has transcribed after a new sentence starts (or it believes it becomes a new sentence) during a single audio session, with requiresOnDeviceRecognition is set to true. This doesn't happen with requiresOnDeviceRecognition set to false. System environment: macOS 14 with Xcode 15, deploying to iOS 17 Thank you all!
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Jun ’23
Core ML Model performance far lower on iOS 17 vs iOS 16 (iOS 17 not using Neural Engine)
Hello, I posted an issue on the coremltools GitHub about my Core ML models not performing as well on iOS 17 vs iOS 16 but I'm posting it here just in case. TL;DR The same model on the same device/chip performs far slower (doesn't use the Neural Engine) on iOS 17 compared to iOS 16. Longer description The following screenshots show the performance of the same model (a PyTorch computer vision model) on an iPhone SE 3rd gen and iPhone 13 Pro (both use the A15 Bionic). iOS 16 - iPhone SE 3rd Gen (A15 Bioinc) iOS 16 uses the ANE and results in fast prediction, load and compilation times. iOS 17 - iPhone 13 Pro (A15 Bionic) iOS 17 doesn't seem to use the ANE, thus the prediction, load and compilation times are all slower. Code To Reproduce The following is my code I'm using to export my PyTorch vision model (using coremltools). I've used the same code for the past few months with sensational results on iOS 16. # Convert to Core ML using the Unified Conversion API coreml_model = ct.convert( model=traced_model, inputs=[image_input], outputs=[ct.TensorType(name="output")], classifier_config=ct.ClassifierConfig(class_names), convert_to="neuralnetwork", # compute_precision=ct.precision.FLOAT16, compute_units=ct.ComputeUnit.ALL ) System environment: Xcode version: 15.0 coremltools version: 7.0.0 OS (e.g. MacOS version or Linux type): Linux Ubuntu 20.04 (for exporting), macOS 13.6 (for testing on Xcode) Any other relevant version information (e.g. PyTorch or TensorFlow version): PyTorch 2.0 Additional context This happens across "neuralnetwork" and "mlprogram" type models, neither use the ANE on iOS 17 but both use the ANE on iOS 16 If anyone has a similar experience, I'd love to hear more. Otherwise, if I'm doing something wrong for the exporting of models for iOS 17+, please let me know. Thank you!
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Oct ’23
Xcode 15.3 AppIntentsSSUTraining warning: missing the definition of locale # variables.1.definitions
Hello! I've noticed that adding localizations for AppShortcuts triggers the following warnings in Xcode 15.3: warning: missing the definition of zh-Hans # variables.1.definitions warning: missing the definition of zh-Hans # variables.2.definitions This occurs with both legacy strings files and String Catalogs. Example project: https://github.com/gongzhang/AppShortcutsLocalizationWarningExample
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Mar ’24
CreateML crashes with Unexpected Error on Feature Extraction
Note: I posted this to the feedback assistant but haven't gotten a response for 3months =( FB13482199 I am trying to train a large image classifier. I have a training run for ~300000 images. Each image has a folder and the file names within the folders are somewhat random. 381 classes. I am on an M2 Pro, Sonoma 14.0 running CreateML Version 5.0 (121.1). I would prefer not to pursue the pytorch/HF -> coremltools route. CreateML seems to consistently crash ~25000-30000 images in during the feature extraction phase with "Unexpected Error". It does not seem to be due to an out of memory issue. I am looking for some guidance since it seems impossible to debug why this is consistently crashing. My initial assumption was that it could be due to blank/corrupt files. I do not think that is the case. I also checked if there were any special characters in the data/folders. I wasn't able to go through all, but did try some programatic regex. Don't think this is the case either. I attached the sysdiagnose results in feedback assistant after the crash happened. I did notice when going into /var/logs there was some write issue saying that Mac had written too much to disk. Note: I also tried Xcode 15.2-beta this time and the associated CoreML version. My questions: How can I fix this? How should I go about debugging CreateML errors in the future? 'Unexpected Error' - where can I go about getting the exact createml logs on my device? This is far too broad of an error statement Please let me know. As a note, I did successfully train a past model on ~100000 images. I am planning to 10-15x that if this run is successful. Please help, spent a lot of time gathering the extra data and to date have been an occasional power user of createml. Haven't heard back from Apple since December =/. I assume I'm not the only one with this problem, so looking for any instructions to hands on debug and help others. Thx!
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Mar ’24
NLModel won't initialize in MessageFilterExtension
i'm trying to create an NLModel within a MessageFilterExtension handler. The code works fine in the main app, but when I try to use it in the extension it fails to initialize. Just this doesn't even work and gets the error below. Single line that fails. SMS_Classifier is the class xcode generated for my model. This line works fine in the main app. let mlModel = try SMS_Classifier(configuration: MLModelConfiguration()).model Error Unable to locate Asset for contextual word embedding model for local en. MLModelAsset: load failed with error Error Domain=com.apple.CoreML Code=0 "initialization of text classifier model with model data failed" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=initialization of text classifier model with model data failed} Any ideas?
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Apr ’24
Random crash from AVFAudio library
Hi everyone ! I'm getting random crashes when I'm using the Speech Recognizer functionality in my app. This is an old bug (for 8 years on Apple Forums) and I will really appreciate if anyone from Apple will be able to find a fix for this crashes. Can anyone also help me please to understand what could I do to keep the Speech Recognizer functionality still available in my app, but to avoid this crashes (if there is any other native library available or a CocoaPod library). Here is my code and also the crash log for it. Code: func startRecording() { startStopRecordBtn.setImage(UIImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "microphone_off")), for: .normal) if UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: Constants.darkTheme) { commentTextView.textColor = .white } else { commentTextView.textColor = .black } commentTextView.isUserInteractionEnabled = false recordingLabel.text = Constants.recording if recognitionTask != nil { recognitionTask?.cancel() recognitionTask = nil } let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() do { try audioSession.setCategory(AVAudioSession.Category.record) try audioSession.setMode(AVAudioSession.Mode.measurement) try audioSession.setActive(true, options: .notifyOthersOnDeactivation) } catch { showAlertWithTitle(message: Constants.error) } recognitionRequest = SFSpeechAudioBufferRecognitionRequest() let inputNode = audioEngine.inputNode guard let recognitionRequest = recognitionRequest else { fatalError(Constants.error) } recognitionRequest.shouldReportPartialResults = true recognitionTask = speechRecognizer?.recognitionTask(with: recognitionRequest, resultHandler: { (result, error) in var isFinal = false if result != nil { self.commentTextView.text = result?.bestTranscription.formattedString isFinal = (result?.isFinal)! } if error != nil || isFinal { self.audioEngine.stop() inputNode.removeTap(onBus: 0) self.recognitionRequest = nil self.recognitionTask = nil self.startStopRecordBtn.isEnabled = true } }) let recordingFormat = inputNode.outputFormat(forBus: 0) inputNode.installTap(onBus: 0, bufferSize: 1024, format: recordingFormat) {[weak self] (buffer: AVAudioPCMBuffer, when: AVAudioTime) in // CRASH HERE self?.recognitionRequest?.append(buffer) } audioEngine.prepare() do { try audioEngine.start() } catch { showAlertWithTitle(message: Constants.error) } } Here is the crash log: Thanks for very much for reading this !
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May ’24
Loading CoreML model increases app size?
Hi, i have been noticing some strange issues with using CoreML models in my app. I am using the Whisper.cpp implementation which has a coreML option. This speeds up the transcribing vs Metal. However every time i use it, the app size inside iphone settings -> General -> Storage increases - specifically the "documents and data" part, the bundle size stays consistent. The Size of the app seems to increase by the same size of the coreml model, and after a few reloads it can increase to over 3-4gb! I thought that maybe the coreml model (which is in the bundle) is being saved to file - but i can't see where, i have tried to use instruments and xcode plus lots of printing out of cache and temp directory etc, deleting the caches etc.. but no effect. I have downloaded the container of the iphone from xcode and inspected it, there are some files stored inthe cache but only a few kbs, and even though the value in the settings-> storage shows a few gb, the container is only a few mb. Please can someone help or give me some guidance on what to do to figure out why the documents and data is increasing? where could this folder be pointing to that is not in the xcode downloaded container?? This is the repo i am using https://github.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp the swiftui app and objective-C app both do the same thing i am witnessing when using coreml. Thanks in advance for any help, i am totally baffled by this behaviour
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May ’24
PyTorch to CoreML Model inaccuracy
I am currently working on a 2D pose estimator. I developed a PyTorch vision transformer based model with 17 joints in COCO format for the same and then converted it to CoreML using CoreML tools version 6.2. The model was trained on a custom dataset. However, upon running the converted model on iOS, I observed a significant drop in accuracy. You can see it in this video (https://youtu.be/EfGFrOZQGtU) that demonstrates the outputs of the PyTorch model (on the left) and the CoreML model (on the right). Could you please confirm if this drop in accuracy is expected and suggest any possible solutions to address this issue? Please note that all preprocessing and post-processing techniques remain consistent between the models. P.S. While converting I also got the following warning. : TracerWarning: Converting a tensor to a Python boolean might cause the trace to be incorrect. We can't record the data flow of Python values, so this value will be treated as a constant in the future. This means that the trace might not generalize to other inputs! if x.numel() == 0 and obsolete_torch_version(TORCH_VERSION, (1, 4)): P.P.S. When we initialize the CoreML model on iOS 17.0, we get this error: Validation failure: Invalid Pool kernel width (13), must be [1-8] or 20. Validation failure: Invalid Pool kernel width (9), must be [1-8] or 20. Validation failure: Invalid Pool kernel width (13), must be [1-8] or 20. Validation failure: Invalid Pool kernel width (9), must be [1-8] or 20. Validation failure: Invalid Pool kernel width (13), must be [1-8] or 20. This neural network model does not have a parameter for requested key 'precisionRecallCurves'. Note: only updatable neural network models can provide parameter values and these values are only accessible in the context of an MLUpdateTask completion or progress handler.
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Jun ’24
Image Playground API
Does the new Image Playground API allow programmatically generating images? Can the app generate and use them without the API's UI or would that require using another generative image model?
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Jun ’24
WWDC24 - What's New in Create ML - Time Series Forecasting
The What’s New in Create ML session in WWDC24 went into great depth with time-series forecasting models (beginning at: 15:14) and mentioned these new models, capabilities, and tools for iOS 18. So, far, all I can find is API documentation. I don’t see any other session in WWDC24 covering these new time-series forecasting Create ML features. Is there more substance/documentation on how to use these with Create ML? Maybe I am looking in the wrong place but I am fairly new with ML. Are there any food truck / donut shop demo/sample code like in the video? It is of great interest to get ahead of the curve on this within business applications that may take advantage of this with inventory / ordering data.
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Jun ’24
TimeSeriesClassifier
In the WWDC24 What’s New In Create ML at 6:03 the presenter introduced TimeSeriesClassifier as a new component of Create ML Components. Where are documentation and code examples for this feature? My app captures accelerometer time series data that I want to classify. Thank you so much!
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Jun ’24
iOS 18 App Intents while supporting iOS 17
iOS 18 App Intents while supporting iOS 17 Hello, I have an existing app that supports iOS 17. I already have three App Intents but would like to add some of the new iOS 18 app intents like ShowInAppSearchResultsIntent. However, I am having a hard time using #available or @available to limit this ShowInAppSearchResultsIntent to iOS 18 only while still supporting iOS 17. Obviously, the ShowInAppSearchResultsIntent needs to use @AssistantIntent which is iOS 18 only, so I mark that struct as @available(iOS 18, *). That works as expected. It is when I need to add this "SearchSnippetIntent" intent to the AppShortcutsProvider, that I begin to have trouble doing. See code below: struct SnippetsShortcutsAppShortcutsProvider: AppShortcutsProvider { @AppShortcutsBuilder static var appShortcuts: [AppShortcut] { //iOS 17+ AppShortcut(intent: SnippetsNewSnippetShortcutsAppIntent(), phrases: [ "Create a New Snippet in \(.applicationName) Studio", ], shortTitle: "New Snippet", systemImageName: "rectangle.fill.on.rectangle.angled.fill") AppShortcut(intent: SnippetsNewLanguageShortcutsAppIntent(), phrases: [ "Create a New Language in \(.applicationName) Studio", ], shortTitle: "New Language", systemImageName: "curlybraces") AppShortcut(intent: SnippetsNewTagShortcutsAppIntent(), phrases: [ "Create a New Tag in \(.applicationName) Studio", ], shortTitle: "New Tag", systemImageName: "tag.fill") //iOS 18 Only AppShortcut(intent: SearchSnippetIntent(), phrases: [ "Search \(.applicationName) Studio", "Search \(.applicationName)" ], shortTitle: "Search", systemImageName: "magnifyingglass") } let shortcutTileColor: ShortcutTileColor = .blue } The iOS 18 Only AppShortcut shows the following error but none of the options seem to work. Maybe I am going about it the wrong way. 'SearchSnippetIntent' is only available in iOS 18 or newer Add 'if #available' version check Add @available attribute to enclosing static property Add @available attribute to enclosing struct Thanks in advance for your help.
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Jun ’24
translationTask does not execute when content appears
The documentation for translationTask(source:target:action:) says it should translate when content appears, but this isn't happening. I’m only able to translate when I manually associate that task with a configuration, and instantiate the configuration. Here’s the complete source code: import SwiftUI import Translation struct ContentView: View { @State private var originalText = "The orange fox jumps over the lazy dog" @State private var translationTaskResult = "" @State private var translationTaskResult2 = "" @State private var configuration: TranslationSession.Configuration? var body: some View { List { // THIS DOES NOT WORK Section { Text(translationTaskResult) .translationTask { session in Task { @MainActor in do { let response = try await session.translate(originalText) translationTaskResult = response.targetText } catch { print(error) } } } } // THIS WORKS Section { Text(translationTaskResult2) .translationTask(configuration) { session in Task { @MainActor in do { let response = try await session.translate(originalText) translationTaskResult2 = response.targetText } catch { print(error) } } } Button(action: { if configuration == nil { configuration = TranslationSession.Configuration() return } configuration?.invalidate() }) { Text("Translate") } } } } } How can I automatically translate a given text when it appears using the new translationTask API?
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Jun ’24