Why do i Have AI stored on my macbooks - AI was never enabled

[MOM20xx]

Why do I have AI stored on my macbooks - AI was never enabled

I Never enabled Apple Intelligence on my macbook pro m5 but Storage info for MacOS shows:

Apple Intelligence 6.39GB

Same Issue on my wifes macbook pro 13 m1

Apple Intelligence 5.01GB

OS Tahoe 26.5.1

 

[bogdanw]

Apple Intelligence is downloaded in /System/Library/AssetsV2, you can delete the contents and lock the folders to prevent macOS from downloading again
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...bled-apple-intelligence.2455227/post-33858703

 

[Sciuriware]

For me too, but don't worry: damaging the installation is worse than to lose a few Gb's.
;JOOP!

 

[bogdanw]

For me too, but don't worry: damaging the installation is worse than to lose a few Gb's.
;JOOP!

According to Apple, you can't "damage the installation" https://support.apple.com/guide/security/signed-system-volume-security-secd698747c9/web

Also according to Apple, Apple Intelligence can be disabled with a configuration profile
IntelligenceSettings in macOS 26.4+
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/intelligencesettings
Restrictions before macOS 26.4+
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/restrictions

 

[Sciuriware]

"According to Apple, you can't "damage the installation"

... if I remember well, there was a big ship in 1912 that could not sink ........

Play it safe and do not touch a good running system, even with "safe" (re-)settings.
Btw.: yesterday evening, my Mac Studio sent 3 crash reports, so .......
I'm not taking any further risk.
;JOOP!

 

[bogdanw]

Btw.: yesterday evening, my Mac Studio sent 3 crash reports, so .......
I'm not taking any further risk.

Open a thread with the crash reports, maybe we can help.
Consider running OnyX - maintenance https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html

 

[Fishrrman]

re bogdan's reply 4 above:

It would be a boon if someone could come up with a small app that provided a user with a way to do these things using a graphical interface...

 

[benholt]

The thing that trips people up: the toggle in System Settings only governs the user-facing AI features. The actual on-device model bundles are pre-staged by softwareupdated on any eligible Mac on a supported locale, because OS-internal stuff (Writing Tools surface in NSTextView, predictive keyboard, some Spotlight ranking) loads them lazily even when the Apple Intelligence pane is off. That's why turning it off doesn't free the space.

Deleting AssetsV2 contents only buys you space until the next softwareupdated check kicks in and re-downloads them — usually within a day. The durable fix on 26.4+ is the IntelligenceSettings configuration profile bogdanw linked: build it in Apple Configurator 2, install on the Mac, and the asset class won't repopulate.

If you don't want to mess with profiles, the cheapest win is just sticking it on the language-region selector — set the Mac to a locale Apple Intelligence doesn't ship for yet and the AssetsV2 footprint drops to near zero. Trade-off is obvious (Siri/system language changes), so only useful if you're already running an unusual locale anyway.