Mac users running macOS 27 can now reclaim storage used by Apple Intelligence with a new open-source command-line tool called RemoveMacAI.
Apple previously offered a single setting to turn off Apple Intelligence, but macOS 27 removed that option. Instead, users have to disable individual AI-related features across different parts of System Settings. Even after those features are turned off, Apple’s on-device AI models can remain stored on the Mac.
RemoveMacAI, created by an independent developer, is designed to handle the process in one go. According to the project’s GitHub repository, it disables Apple Intelligence features, removes the downloaded AI models and prevents macOS from downloading them again.
The developer originally explained on Reddit that users previously had to find around a dozen different settings to disable Apple Intelligence. Even after doing that, the foundation models could remain on the drive and take up around 12GB of storage. RemoveMacAI was created to automate the process instead.
The tool can disable Siri and its related features, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, the ChatGPT extension and AI-generated summaries in apps including Mail, Messages, Safari and Notes. It can also disable features such as Mail smart replies, inline text predictions, Spatial Photos, Photos Clean Up and Xcode predictive code completion.
The amount of storage recovered can vary considerably between Macs. The developer describes the core Apple Intelligence models as taking about 12GB, while some users have reported significantly larger figures. MacRumors previously reported cases where Apple Intelligence was using more than 30GB on Macs running macOS 27.
RemoveMacAI includes a removemacai status command that shows the individual AI models and how much storage they are using. This lets users check the actual space being occupied on their Mac before removing anything.
The process is also reversible. Running removemacai revert removes the changes and allows macOS to download the AI models again when the relevant features are enabled. The developer says Dictation continues to work because it is handled separately from the Apple Intelligence features being disabled.
RemoveMacAI requires an Apple silicon Mac running macOS 27. The project’s documentation says it has been tested on macOS 27, while version 0.2.3 or later is required for macOS 27.0.1. It is not supported on macOS 26 or earlier.
The tool does not disable System Integrity Protection or directly modify files inside /System. Instead, it uses a configuration profile that users must approve through System Settings before the models are removed. The project is open source and released under the MIT license.
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For users who rely on Apple Intelligence, removing the models obviously means losing those features until they are restored. But for Mac owners with limited SSD space who do not use Apple’s AI tools, RemoveMacAI offers a way to recover potentially several gigabytes of storage that would otherwise remain occupied by local AI models.
