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Turn off and restrict access to Apple Intelligence features on Mac

353 points · 223 comments · alwillis

  1. iAMkenough · · focus · HN ↗
    Note that storage space taken up by local models is not reclaimed and remains dormant on your Mac until you're nearly out of space.
    1. rgovostes · · focus · HN ↗
      Philosophically, what is the difference between empty space and space that will be reclaimed when you need it?

      The storage medium tracks whether a cell or sector is overwritable. The filesystem tracks whether a block is allocated. And the OS tracks whether a cache is evictable.

      At what layer do you consider the space “claimed”?

      1. iAMkenough · · focus · HN ↗
        Beyond the technical differences already mentioned, there's also the difference in consent. The 8-16GB of dormant AI data is either on your $2K 128GB device, or it's not.

        In this regard, Apple did not learn from the free U2 album they automatically added to everyone's iTunes account at no charge.

        There was enough outrage at the lack of consent in that decision, Apple had to create a special support path for removing it from accounts.

        Given the divisive opinions about AI, it's odd Apple didn't include a "delete" button to completely remove it from your device if you wish.

        <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20141116221641&#x2F;https%3A&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;HT201396" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20141116221641&#x2F;https%3A&#x2F;&#x2F;support...

        1. rgovostes · · focus · HN ↗
          In my macOS 27 System folder there are almost 500 local models across dozens of frameworks. Do you want to purge all of them? Or is there some distinguishing characteristic about which ones are unacceptable -- transformer models vs convolutional neural networks, generative models vs inference, etc.?
          1. iAMkenough · · focus · HN ↗
            Why would I want to purge something from your system?

            I don’t give a fuck what you do with your device.

            Are you trying to argue you want to dictate what should be on my personal device? I’m not interested.

            My stance continues to be that owners should be able to consent to whether optional AI features are present on the device THEY OWN or not.

            It’s like you are arguing unremovable Microsoft Teams and Copilot365 is mandatory for a functioning Windows operating system.

            1. rgovostes · · focus · HN ↗
              You appear to have completely misinterpreted my comment.
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