Mac owners who never asked for Apple Intelligence are finding a new way to get the disk space back.
A free open-source tool called RemoveMacAI turns the feature off on macOS 27, deletes the on-device models, and tries to stop them from returning. Developer Om Lahore released it under an MIT license after Apple dropped the single master switch in Golden Gate. You can still toggle individual features, but the models stay on the drive anyway. Apple has put the footprint at up to about 14 GB on recent Macs. Lahore says the tool typically recovers around 12 GB. Some users have seen System Settings list 30 GB or more, and a few report reclaiming space in that neighborhood.
The utility runs from Terminal. You install it with a one-line curl command or Homebrew, confirm what it plans to do, then approve a configuration profile in System Settings. macOS requires that approval, so the tool cannot skip it. The profile uses Apple’s own restriction keys to shut off the features and the asset service that manages the models. RemoveMacAI then deletes the downloads through that service rather than by turning off System Integrity Protection or hand-editing protected folders. It also points future download attempts at a closed local port so they fail. A dry-run previews the change. A revert command undoes it. Dictation is left alone.
What you lose is the rest of the AI suite: Siri and “Hey Siri,” Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, the ChatGPT extension, summaries, smart replies, inline predictions, Photos Clean Up, Spatial Photos, and Xcode’s predictive completion. You can keep specific features if you want.
The appeal is obvious on a 256 GB Mac that cannot be upgraded. The risk is also obvious. This is an unofficial tool, and the restriction keys it relies on were already deprecated in macOS 26.4. They still work in 27.0.1, but a future update could break them. Storage numbers in Settings can lag while the system finishes cleaning up. Anyone who runs it should read the code first and treat the result as reversible only for as long as Apple leaves the door open.
MacDailyNews Take: More info: https://github.com/omlahore/RemoveMacAI
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Thank goodness – I am delighted to remove AI bloatware – my Mac Mini M4/24/512 reports 80GB System+AI. I never use AI, have nil interest in ever using it, so absolutely delighted to remove it! I can edit my photos, write emails and do my research without unwanted/unasked/unwelcome “artificial intelligence”