Mac OS 27. How do I get rid of apple intelligence. It just ate 32 gig of my hard drive.

Sorry, you don't have a choice on the size of the update or the ability to remove many aspects of the install.

• You cannot remove apps installed with Mac OS even if you don't use them, for example Chess.
• You cannot remove the emojis even if you don't use them.
• You cannot remove the installed Wallpapers.
• Disabling or not using it is one thing, but that does not mean you will regain the space used by the AI models. Workarounds have been attempted, but they have also failed to prevent the models from returning, other than maybe using a region where they are restricted.
• You can send Feedback to Apple directly here though. Feedback - macOS - Apple

Correct, and I do not expect it will have an appreciable effect on storage space, if it has any at all. OP is making an assumption it will, which lacks justification.

Whatever "ate" 32 GB is obviously not limited to it.

Several salient factors: 32 GB simply isn't that much any more (it's arguably negligible these days), AI demands copious system resources (to put it mildly), and there isn't much we can do to influence what Apple does.

For that reason I'm leaving things as Apple wants... for better or worse.

oldmaninflorida wrote:

I didn't make an assumption I went into storage and looked.

To be clear, the assumption you are making is that following the steps in the linked tip to turn off some features of Apple Intelligence will enable you accomplish your goal of recovering the space used by the Apple Intelligence models. That assumption appears to be unwarranted.

No one questions that Apple Intelligence takes up space on your Mac. That was true even when it could be turned off with a setting in Tahoe – toggling that setting off disables Apple Intelligence but does not free up the 10-12 GB of space it uses.

There's an article in el Reg which reports that it ought to survive an OS update. We'll see..

https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/05/get-rid-of-apples-ai-bloatware-and-reclaim-12-gb-of-storage-with-this-open-source-tool/5301213

The article linked also says you can't prevent it and is a mandatory part or your system. That is why I provided the Feedback link for you.

Turn off Apple Intelligence in macOS 27 - Apple Community

Pull quote, from a comment:

"Apple is really making this difficult to disable."

Do not expect any disk drive space to be released for at least a day.

From what I can tell, the steps provided by @etresoft are all about suppressing the output of Apple Intelligence, not actually turning it off or recovering space.

However, the additional information from others in that thread (changing the system language to one for which Apple Intelligence is not available or managing the Mac via a declarative configuration/MDM) would appear to have the desired outcome as far as removing Apple Intelligence models and reclaiming storage space.

Thanks.

But good grief. that is so complicated I'm going to have to print it out. Then go through each item and check it off.

***

Upgrading the macbook was a test. I'm definitely not upgrading my phone or my other apple stuff.

[Edited by Moderator]

This just dropped on Ars Technica. I'm on Sequoia so haven't tried it. Do your research and use at your own risk.

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/10/command-line-tool-quickly-removes-apple-intelligence-from-macos-27/

I tried it. Got all 21 GB of otherwise wasted space back. Now to see what happens after a restart.

Edit: Yup, it's staying empty. The OS would have otherwise already started downloading all of this junk again.

The curl command installs a Device Management profile after you double click on the new item to review and allow it. You can otherwise back out without ever allowing it to run.

Should you want AI active again, you simply remove the profile, as it states when you double click it.

😂 it is complicated, and I'm grateful for Mr etresoft for having created that User Tip. I wouldn't have had the patience.

oldmaninflorida wrote:

I'm definitely not upgrading my phone or my other apple stuff.

Good luck with that. Apple AI is in everything Apple does... including this site.

I didn't make an assumption I went into storage and looked.

It's is a well documented effect.

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/23/apple-intelligence-30gb-some-macs-macos-27/

Thanks but I have no interest in "rumor" clickbait sites.