Apple may face pressure to let Mac users remove Apple Intelligence
Apple currently offers controls to restrict individual Apple Intelligence features on Macs, but not a single switch to disable all features and remove downloaded models. 9to5Mac reports that growing opposition to AI, storage concerns, and organizations that ban AI tools could increase pressure on Apple to add an official removal option, though Apple has not announced one.
Why it matters: An official removal option could matter to organizations and Mac users that do not want AI features or their downloaded models.
Apple may have to officially support easy Apple Intelligence removal on Macs
You only have to read some of the comments right here to see that there’s a vocal minority of people rejecting all AI tools, including Apple Intelligence. That’s led to an unofficial tool enabling people to turn off the feature on their Macs and remove all downloaded Siri AI models.
We warned yesterday that this could be a risky thing to do, but it’s now being suggested that Apple may have to officially support an AI removal feature in order to protect hardware sales …
There’s been growing pushback against generative AI in general, with opponents citing reasons ranging from fearing for the survival of the human species down to simply not wanting unwanted AI features to take up storage space on their devices.
The latest Apple Intelligence models can require up to 14GB of storage, so there’s a significant hit to 256GB machines if you don’t want the features. That led indie developer Om Lahore to create a project called RemoveMacAI.
We warned yesterday that using this is not without risks. Given how deeply Apple Intelligence is embedded into macOS 27, it could have unwanted impact on even quite basic functionality.
But some are arguing that Apple may have to introduce an official way to remove Apple Intelligence from Macs. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber points to organizations banning the installation of AI tools.
There are institutional groups that have rules against AI — these places aren’t allowing Golden Gate at all until and unless Apple Intelligence can be removed. And that means not buying new Mac hardware that only runs Golden Gate.
To be clear, Apple does offer a great many controls to organizations using device management. Currently, Apple says they can “restrict the use” of certain Apple Intelligence features, and there are individual toggles to enable or disable features one at a time. What’s currently lacking is a single switch to disable all Apple Intelligence features in one hit, together with the option to remove the downloaded models.
It’s not a live issue yet, but as future generations of Macs start dropping support for older versions of macOS, failing to allow the easy removal of AI models could start to hit Apple’s hardware sales.
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Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!
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How we got here
- Google Project Zero urges emergency mitigations before formal patchesiThome 台湾 · Apple
- Foxconn’s AI-server business becomes a second growth engine钛媒体 · Apple
- AI Hardware Is Redefining What Counts as RecordingThe Verge AI · Apple
- Apple's RISED uses rubrics for multi-environment agent trainingApple Machine Learning Research · Apple
- How to Disable Apple Intelligence and Free Storage on iPhone and MacCNET · Apple
- RemoveMacAI removes Apple Intelligence features from macOS 27Ars Technica AI · RemoveMacAI