The clash began with macOS 27 Golden Gate, which removed the broad Apple Intelligence on-off switch available in earlier releases. Users can still hunt through settings to disable individual functions, but that does not necessarily remove the underlying local models—or the storage they occupy.¹

Last week, a GitHub developer known as Om Lahore answered that frustration with RemoveMacAI, a command-line utility designed to disable Apple Intelligence wholesale. The tool switches off Siri, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, the ChatGPT extension and AI-generated summaries; it then deletes the models and blocks macOS from downloading them again. Dictation remains available because it is controlled separately.¹

The storage argument is central to the backlash. The developer estimates the models consume about 12GB, while other reporting cited in the account suggests the footprint can exceed 30GB. For users who do not use the features, that is not a minor technical detail but a demand for disk space without consent.¹

Lahore’s pitch is deliberately cautious: RemoveMacAI uses a System Settings-approved configuration profile and Apple’s own asset service, leaving System Integrity Protection on and avoiding direct changes to the protected system directory. The process is reversible; removing the profile allows macOS to fetch models again when a user re-enables a feature. Users can also choose to remove only selected AI components.¹

Early response suggests the complaint reaches beyond a niche. Some Reddit users say the tool works, and it had 1,700 GitHub stars at the time of publication. One Hacker News commenter compared the exercise to Windows-style “de-crufting,” arguing that Mac owners now need third-party scripts to reclaim system resources and remove “unwanted crapware.”¹

Apple Intelligence still has willing users. But RemoveMacAI’s appeal lies in a sharper point: when Apple made its AI harder to fully switch off, some Mac owners built the switch themselves.¹