Apple quietly made a big change to macOS, and a developer has spent the last few weeks building a command-line tool to undo it. The change came in macOS 27, when Apple removed the single Settings toggle that used to let you disable its AI features. Instead, the company split those features across multiple settings panes, buried some of them under Screen Time, and left the underlying models sitting on disk — about 12GB of them.
The developer’s tool, called RemoveMacAI, does what the old toggle used to do: it switches off Siri, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, the ChatGPT extension, and all the summaries, deletes the models, and blocks macOS from downloading them again. It is an open-source project, and it has drawn attention from MacRumors, which spotted the developer’s Reddit post.
The developer’s own description captures the frustration that led to the project. He wrote that you have to find about a dozen settings, and several of them are under Screen Time. Even when everything is off, the foundation models stay on disk, and that’s about 12GB. He wrote that he wrote RemoveMacAI to do all of it in one go.
What the Tool Actually Deletes
The 12GB figure comes from the developer himself, who said in his Reddit post that the foundation models take up “about 12GB” of space. That number is a starting point, not a ceiling. Some users who commented on his thread reported larger numbers, and one user on a MacBook Air found Apple Intelligence listed as taking up 35.05GB of space by going to Storage in the Settings app and clicking the “i” icon beside “macOS.”
RemoveMacAI also includes a “removemacai status” command that shows the size of each individual AI model on your Mac. That means you can see exactly which ones are eating your storage before you commit to deleting anything.
The tool works in a few steps:
- It switches off all the AI features that were previously controlled through Settings.
- It deletes the foundation models themselves.
- It blocks macOS from downloading those models again.
The third step is the key one. Without it, you could disable everything, delete the models, and then have macOS simply redownload them the next time you update or restart. RemoveMacAI prevents that.
Why the Old Toggle Was Removed
The removal of the single Settings toggle was not announced as a separate feature. It was simply part of how macOS 27 was structured. The result is that disabling Apple’s AI features now requires a trip through several settings panes, and some of those panes are tucked away in places users might not expect to look.
Screen Time, for example, is primarily a parental control and time management tool. Finding an AI toggle there is a strange place for it.
What is clear is that the old toggle was simpler. One switch turned everything off. Now, you need to hunt down a dozen separate controls, and even after you find them all, the models remain on disk.
The Numbers Behind the Tool
The 12GB figure is the headline, but the actual experience varies by machine. The developer’s estimate is based on what he observed, and he acknowledges that the number could be higher for some users. The 35.05GB figure from the MacBook Air user is the clearest evidence of that variance.
| Space Claimed |
|---|
| “About 12GB” |
| 35.05GB |
The difference matters because it determines how much storage you actually free up. On a machine with the smaller figure, RemoveMacAI delivers a modest gain. On a machine with the larger figure, it delivers a much bigger one.
The Developer’s Own Experience
The developer posted about RemoveMacAI on Reddit, where he detailed the project. His post has become the central documentation for the tool, and it is worth reading in full for anyone who wants to understand exactly what RemoveMacAI does.
In the post, he explained that the tool was born out of frustration with the new settings layout. He did not just complain about it; he built a solution.
Why This Matters
The story is amusing on its face. A developer built a whole command-line tool just to undo what used to be one Settings toggle. But there is a serious point underneath. Apple’s move in macOS 27 changed how users manage their own devices.
Before, you had one switch. Now you have twelve. That is a real cost in time and effort, especially for users who want to keep their machines lean. The fact that the models stay on disk even when disabled compounds the problem. You are paying for storage you are not using.
RemoveMacAI solves that problem, but it also exposes the mess Apple created. The company split the AI features across settings panes, hid some of them under a control panel designed for something else, and left the models resident on disk. That is a design choice that the developer had to engineer around.
The irony is that the tool exists at all. If Apple had kept the old toggle, or added a new one, the developer would have had nothing to build. Instead, he had to write code to replicate what the operating system used to handle automatically.
What the Story Shows
The story is a reminder that software design decisions have real consequences. Splitting a feature across multiple settings panes sounds harmless, but it adds friction for users. Removing a single toggle that worked is a regression, not an improvement. And leaving models on disk when they are disabled is a waste of storage.
RemoveMacAI is a small project, but it addresses a real problem. It is the kind of tool that fills a gap between what a company ships and what users actually want. The developer saw the gap, built a bridge, and released it as open-source software.
The tool also raises a question about how companies handle AI features in general. When a company bundles multiple AI tools together, users should have a simple way to disable them entirely. macOS 27 made that harder, and RemoveMacAI makes it easier again.
Final Word
The developer’s own view is that the tool does what the old toggle did. That is the honest assessment of what he built. He did not invent a new feature, and he did not create a new problem. He simply restored the functionality that was lost.
RemoveMacAI is a clever hack, and it works. It frees up storage, stops the models from coming back, and gives you a way to undo it if you change your mind. For anyone running low on space on a Mac, it is worth trying.
The fact that the 12GB figure undersells the actual storage impact on some machines is a minor annoyance. It is also a reminder that the numbers Apple puts in front of us are often estimates, and the real costs can be higher. The developer’s tool helps you see the truth for yourself.
The story is amusing, but it is also practical. If you have a Mac and you want to reclaim some storage, RemoveMacAI is a straightforward way to do it. The developer did the work, and the command line makes it quick.
Source material: “An open-source tool lets you delete 12GB of Apple Intelligence data on macOS,” The Verge.
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