Open-Source Tool 'RemoveMacAI' Purges Apple Intelligence Models from macOS 27

A software utility named RemoveMacAI offers macOS 27 users a way to turn off Apple Intelligence features, delete local model weights, and block the operating system from downloading them again. The open-source project, shared on Hacker News at https://github.com/omlahore/RemoveMacAI, addresses persistent background asset storage on Apple's platform.

According to project documentation, macOS 27 no longer provides a single master switch to turn off Apple Intelligence, leaving local model files on disk even after individual user-facing settings are switched off. RemoveMacAI resolves this by turning off the features, removing the stored models, and applying a configuration profile to prevent background re-downloads.

The script downloads the latest release, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and runs from a temporary directory without installing permanent background software. Each release is built from tagged releases via GitHub Actions with build provenance attestations. When run, the tool displays the system's current state, requests confirmation, and opens System Settings so the user can manually approve the configuration profile before it purges the model files.

The tool disables Siri (including 'Hey Siri' and its menu bar icon), Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, the ChatGPT extension, predictive code completion in Xcode, inline text predictions, Mail smart replies, and notification and content summaries across Mail, Messages, Safari, and Notes. The removed assets include Apple Intelligence foundation models and specialized models for image generation, Genmoji, Spatial Photos, Photos Clean Up, and Xcode code completion. Dictation remains unaffected because its speech models run on a separate setting.

The script also affects apps and integrations that rely on Apple's on-device AI infrastructure. Third-party applications using the Foundation Models framework, the 'Use Model' action in Shortcuts, Visual Intelligence, and natural-language editing in Calendar cease to function. Core system background services remain loaded due to System Integrity Protection, and the primary Spotlight window continues running under a process named Siri.

The tool's configuration profile persists across macOS updates to maintain the download block. While Apple's asset service releases model files immediately, macOS Storage settings may continue to count the storage until the operating system deletes the files on its own schedule. All modifications can be reverted by running the utility's revert command. RemoveMacAI builds on pared, a tool by developer 4evy that initially mapped Apple's asset service, model groupings, and system settings keys.