As stated in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/75902996/29516370, you should add

#if targetEnvironment(simulator)
    if #available(iOS 17.0, *) {
        let allDevices = MLComputeDevice.allComputeDevices
        
        for device in allDevices {
            if(device.description.contains("MLCPUComputeDevice")){
                request.setComputeDevice(.some(device), for: .main)
                break
            }
        }
        
    } else {
        request.usesCPUOnly = true
    }
#endif

Tip: i found a solution simply by printing error.localizedDescription: "Could not create inference context":

import UIKit

@preconcurrency import Vision
let visionQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.example.vision")
extension UIImage {
    @MainActor func detectBarcodes(completion: @Sendable @escaping ([VNBarcodeObservation]) ->()) {
        let request = VNDetectBarcodesRequest()
        
#if targetEnvironment(simulator)
        if #available(iOS 17.0, *) {
            let allDevices = MLComputeDevice.allComputeDevices
            
            for device in allDevices {
                if(device.description.contains("MLCPUComputeDevice")){
                    request.setComputeDevice(.some(device), for: .main)
                    break
                }
            }
            
        } else {
            request.usesCPUOnly = true
        }
#endif
        
        request.queueFor(image: self) { result in
            completion(result as? [VNBarcodeObservation] ?? [])
        }
    }
}

extension VNDetectBarcodesRequest {
    @MainActor func queueFor(image: UIImage, completion: @Sendable @escaping ([Any]?) -> ()) {
        let handler = VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: image.cgImage!, orientation: .up, options: [:])
        DispatchQueue.main.async {
            do {
                let w = "ok here 1✅"
                try handler.perform([self])
                let b = "ok here 2✅"
            } catch {
                error.localizedDescription
            }
        }
    }
}
let image = UIImage(named: "5.jpg")!
image.detectBarcodes { barcodes in
    for barcode in barcodes {
        let a = barcode.payloadStringValue
    }
}