Why is Apple Intelligence stuck on "Preparing" on my M1 MacBook?

After trying most of the suggestions on this thread I called Apple Care (I have a new Mini M4, running Mac OS 15.1.1). Agent directed me to Settings/Apple Intelligence & Siri/ Language; then select Arabic (or any other language) from pull-down list; message will indicate that AI is not available. Then go back to Language and select English (United States). Selection was accepted (whereas previous attempts were not) and AI was turned on.

I'm trying to download and activate the publically released version of Apple Intelligence. (I am not the OP.)

Both my M3 MacBook Pro and my son's M1 MacBook Air were stuck on "Preparing" since the day 15.1 came out. Nothing worked. So last night I did full Time Machine backups of both machines, did a reset and then a restore, and voila. Suddenly Apple Intelligence was ready to turn on after maybe 5-10 minutes back in action.

It could have been much worse if Time Machine wasn't so brilliant. 45 minutes later and it was like nothing even happened even though I had nuked my computer lol

I reluctantly did the reset and restore from full Time Machine backup and it worked. First question to “smarter” Siri?

“Hey Siri, what took you so long?”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

🤣

Thanks for all the help here everyone.

I finally went to the nuclear option: I did a full Time Machine backup, factory reset and then restored from the back-up. And that did the trick. (2024 Mac Air M3.)

I did notice when I went to the Voice option under Apple Intelligence and Siri, that it used to be just a greyed out circle and after the reset, it looked like it was downloading something (the circle filled up in a clockwise direction.) So maybe the voices were not really downloaded before? Dunno.

FYI: Under General, Storage, macOS, I am still showing 4.43, yet new Siri is working.

But it works!!! Only took 3 and a half weeks!

What is the answer here? On my new iPad Pro it’s stuck on “preparing” and in iPadOS storage it’s 2.94 GB where it should be 2.96 GB if 100% downloaded. I’ve tried the language change thing. I’ve had it connected to WiFi only for 24 hours. This is a bad look for Apple.

i'm stuck on downloading and i cant access writing tools. it's already taking up over 5 GB of storage.

Where are you located?

Which version are you trying to download ?

Apple Intelligence is fully downloaded (storage reads 4.49 GB), but "preparing" persists under Settings/Apple Intelligence and Siri. I have a Mac Mini M4 with Mac OS 15.1.

[Edited by Moderator]

This worked for me also and was quick and painless.

I am also stuck at 4.91 on an M1 MacBook Pro and have been for weeks. This appears to be a thing...

Ah... I misread the moderator comment as deleted not edited so reposted (didn't see it here when I looked) oops. In any case. There's a solution now.

I had the same issue and this worked for me -- thanks!

THANK YOU!!! Worked perfectly!