How to completely remove Apple Intelligence (from a MacBook Pro)

Today, Jan. 15, 2025, I received a systems pop-up telling me it is time to experience the new apple personal intelligence system. I am not interested. I want to continue to rely on my own intelligence. How do I get rid of this repeatedly nagging me to update like my iPhone does about its updates.

Correction. I had to turn it OFF (not on). It’s getting to the point that I do not like Apple at all.

I totally agree. The Apple Intelligence offer was also "placed" automatically in my system settings by Apple. I had already asked on this forum if anyone knew how to get rid of it. I had no intention of accessing it; however, it installed on the next system update. I am still upset about that and I, too, want it off my computer.

Inaccurate statement. My iPad software was just updated and the unrequested, unwanted Apple Intelligence was installed TURNED ON. I had to turn it on. I hate when Apple ASSUMES you want activated or installed every little thing they come up with. I don’t appreciate it and I resent it.

And to conclude, MacOS is locked on a read only partition of the Hard Drive, where absolutely no changes are possible. Of course this is for security that prevents any modified System files that were problematic years ago, and Windows also adopted this technique to significantly reduce the viruses that have long plagued the early days of Windows. It is no longer possible to replace a system file/app with one that has altered its code for nefarious reasons and that is a good thing.

I have seen the conspiracy theories that Apple does not allow the installed apps to be removed, because Apple wants to track you. This is complete nonsense. Of course apps such as Chess are not required for the operation of the OS and it also cannot be deleted because it is part of the OS install locked on your read only partition. Luckily due to this protection, it also cannot be replaced by a fake Chess app that appears to be the same as the installed app.

I'm not sure you can stop these reminders. But this is a user to user only forum, so contact Apple directly to ask them. If you're in the US, you can call Apple at: 800-MY-APPLE. You can use the Support button at the bottom of this page. You can visit the Genius Bar at your Apple Store.

mikehASC wrote:

I'm curious to know whether you speak purely on your own behalf, or whether you are speaking for Apple as a corporation.

I am, of course, quite aware that if I wish to use this rather nice piece of hardware I have to use macOS, and that to use macOS I have have to agree to the terms of the EULA without any negotiation of those terms. What I don't understand is why it is Apple's interest to antagonize a customer unnecessarily. I have other laptops on which I run Linux, which has other faults but does not force me to do anything.

I am not overly concerned about the loss of storage (which is not really significant, though it was noticeable enough to alert me to what had happened), but I do take pains in general to keep the crud on my disk to a minimum. To paraphrase an old quip, a GB here and a GB there and pretty soon we're talking real storage.

I cannot speak for Apple. I am a user, just like you are a user. And this is a user to user only forum, which Apple doesn't actively participate (except to moderate posts to the terms of use).

I don't think Apple is trying to antagonize you, but if you feel they are, you should likely share that with them here --> Feedback - macOS - Apple

Never, ever reply to junk mail. It just confirms there's someone at the other end and you get moved to live lists and will get more junk. Don't ever click on unsubscribe links in junk mail because you've no idea what sort of website you'll end up at.

Who is your mail provider? Most mail services have multiple levels of junk mail filters and if yours does then try upping it a notch.

You can also create rules in Mac Mail to get rid of junk. For example I've been getting a ton of mail telling me my McAfee subscription has lapsed or that they've found a virus. I've never used McAfee so I've created a rule to delete all mails with McAfee in the subject.

You can prevent bills and genuine mails from people and organizations you know from going to your junk box by making sure their address is in Contacts and you've ticked the appropriate box in Mail/Settings/Junk Mail. You can also create rules and/or smart mailboxes to move or display emails if they are from, say family, friends, etc. Just put your family in a list in contacts and you can create a rule or smart mailbox based on that list.

Not_a_fan9999 wrote:

Inaccurate statement. My iPad software was just updated and the unrequested, unwanted Apple Intelligence was installed TURNED ON. I had to turn it on. I hate when Apple ASSUMES you want activated or installed every little thing they come up with. I don’t appreciate it and I resent it.

You replied to an old post that was accurate at the time. With the recent update, it is on by default and if you do not want it, then shut it off. It really is that simple. Nothing to get excited about.

The Post you referred to back in September was before the update had been released and was purely speculative of how it would work. Now you know that it is turned off by default and you have none of the features installed unless you choose to turn them on

As the same post also explains, you have had Machine Learning on your device for a very long time and is the same thing as Artificial Intelligence, just without the label and incorporation of ChatGPT. That is why you are able to pick out Faces in pictures along with the other uses such as Siri Suggestions, Map Suggestions and Typing Predictions.

So the question is, did you turn on Apple Intelligence or not? If turned on the additional models were downloaded to your Mac.

mikehASC wrote:

I would have thought that from the tenor of my post you could deduce that I have never enabled Apple Intelligence. When I found out about its presence (through its disk space usage), System Settings showed that it was disabled, so I am confident it has never been enabled.

I apply every macOS update as soon as it is available. My current release is Sequoia 15.2, to which I updated on December 11, 2024. To my recollection, none of the Sequoia updates gave me an option of whether to install Apple Intelligence.

From reading other online material, I suspect that most of the disk space is taken up by the data for the AI models. Since this is just data, I see absolutely no reason why these files could not be deleted.

As for your speculations about what I have already been able to do with Apple Intelligence, you are quite wrong; I have never used any of these features, particularly Siri, and have no interest in doing so

They can't be deleted because they are build in the OS, which in your case is MacOS. The simple answer is you don't have download the full Apple Intelligence suite of options if you don't want to use it. But delete it completely off your Mac, is a no. What I don't understand is the 9GB increase you refer to. I have an M1 MacBook Pro, with all the features of Apple Intelligence installed and fully functional in my MBP and memory barely moved after downloading the update and loading Apple Intelligence.

We don't own the OS on any system we own. Apple owns MacOS. And we don't have the ability, nor right to uninstall things which are built into the OS. That's how it works with EVERY technology company. It sounds like you have more than enough available space on your Mac. I'm not sure what a few GB would do for you anyway?