Apple opens its foundational AI models to developers

It’s safe to say Apple Intelligence hasn’t landed in the way Apple likely hoped it would. However, that’s not stopping the company from continuing to iterate on its suite of AI features. During its WWDC 2025 conference on Monday, Apple announced a collection of new features for Apple Intelligence, starting with the decision to bring its foundational models to developers.

According to Craig Federighi, the company’s senior vice president of software engineering, Apple’s new Foundation Models framework will allow third-party developers to tap into the large language models that power Apple Intelligence.

Elsewhere, Apple is using AI to bring subtle improvements across iOS and its other platforms. In Messages, for instance, you’ll be able to use Image Playground to generate colorful backgrounds for your group chats. Apple is also upgrading Genmoji, the tool you can use to create your own emoji, to allow users to combine two emoji from the Unicode library to create new characters. For example, you might combine the sloth and light bulb emoji if you want to poke fun at yourself for being slow to understand a joke.

Developing…