Don't want Apple Intelligence taking up precious storage on your Mac? Here's how to remove it

Apple Intelligence is the main highlight of macOS Sequoia, bringing AI-powered tools like smarter text suggestions and photo edits. But let’s face it — not everyone wants it. Whether you don’t find the feature useful or it’s simply hogging precious storage on your Mac, disabling it doesn’t fully get rid of the data it uses.

Here’s how you can remove Apple Intelligence from macOS and reclaim that storage space, step by step. Be warned: this process involves disabling macOS’s System Integrity Protection (SIP), so proceed carefully.

Why Apple Intelligence stays even when disabled?

Even if you disable Apple Intelligence in System Settings, the underlying AI models and assets, stored under com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_GenerativeModels, remain on your Mac. These files can take up several gigabytes of space, which is frustrating if you’re working with limited storage. Apple’s current approach doesn’t delete these assets unless you reinstall macOS without using the feature.

Luckily, there’s a workaround.

Steps to permanently remove Apple Intelligence data

Note: This guide involves slightly advanced macOS operations like disabling SIP and using Terminal commands. Make sure to back up your data before proceeding. Credits to Redditor u/filchermcurr for sharing the steps. Others have also confirmed that this did the trick for them.

1. Disable Apple Intelligence
Before diving in, make sure the feature is turned off:

1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to Apple Intelligence and toggle it off.

2. Boot into Recovery Mode
To modify protected system files, you need to disable SIP:

1. Restart your Mac and hold Command (⌘) + R during boot.
2. Once in macOS Utilities, click Utilities > Terminal from the top menu.

3. Disable SIP
In Terminal, type the following command:

Press Enter, then restart your Mac.
4. Locate and delete Apple Intelligence files

1. Boot back into Recovery Mode.
2. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
3. Find Macintosh HD – Data, right-click it, and choose Mount.
4. Quit Disk Utility and reopen Terminal.
5. Type this command to remove the AI files:
    

   rm -rf /Volumes/Data/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_GenerativeModels


5. Re-enable SIP
Once the files are deleted, re-enable SIP to protect your system:

1. Restart your Mac and boot into Recovery Mode again.
2. Open Terminal and type:
   csrutil enable

3. Restart your Mac.

Why Apple doesn’t make this easy?

Apple’s stance on AI is to integrate it seamlessly into macOS, making it a part of the operating system rather than an optional download. While this provides convenience for many users, it also means you can’t fully opt out without jumping through hoops.

Some users on r/MacOS have voiced their frustrations, calling for an option to delete AI files when the feature is disabled. Apple hasn’t addressed this directly, but let’s just hope that future updates will introduce an option to completely wipe off AI features from your Mac’s storage. The additional storage space that it consumes is especially a concern for those with Macs that have 256GB of storage. So if Apple wants to force AI down people’s throats, they should at least bump up the storage space on base model Macs.

Have you tried removing Apple Intelligence? Let us know if these steps worked for you or if you ran into any issues!