How much space does Apple Intelligence use on a Mac?

Apple Intelligence storage on a Mac is set by Apple, not by you. Apple says it needs up to 14 GB on Macs with M3 or later and at least 12 GB of unified memory, and up to 8 GB on every other Mac that supports it.

Intel-based Macs don't support Apple Intelligence, so they don't download its models at all.

The figure Storage settings shows can be higher. On macOS 27 Golden Gate, owners and reviewers have reported Apple Intelligence lines of about 14 to 30 GB, and Apple hasn't said whether its own figure is measured the same way.

The models count under macOS in Storage settings, not under System Data. macOS downloads and updates them by itself, keeps them in protected system folders, and offers no button to delete them. On macOS 26 Tahoe you can still turn Apple Intelligence off; on macOS 27, Apple documents switches for each feature but no single off switch.

So the useful questions are how much your Mac really uses, what each version of macOS lets you change, and where to find space elsewhere. This post takes them in turn.

How much storage Apple Intelligence uses on a Mac

Apple publishes a ceiling, not an exact size. Its support article on Apple Intelligence lists how much storage each kind of device needs, and the Mac falls into two groups.

What does Apple say Apple Intelligence needs?

Mac	Storage Apple lists	Notes
M3 or later with at least 12 GB of unified memory	Up to 14 GB	The larger figure, for Apple's most capable Macs
Other Macs with M1 or later	Up to 8 GB	Includes M1 and M2 Macs, and M3 or later with 8 GB of memory
MacBook Neo (A18 Pro)	Up to 8 GB	Listed among supported Macs
Intel-based Macs	None	Apple Intelligence isn't supported

The same article says the next generation of Apple Intelligence needs macOS 27 Golden Gate, and that the earlier features work on macOS Tahoe 26 and later. Both versions keep the models in the same kind of protected folder, described below.

"Up to" matters. Apple is describing the most a Mac may need, not what every Mac downloads on day one.

Which group is your Mac in?

Choose Apple menu › About This Mac. The window lists your Mac's Chip, its Memory and the version of macOS it runs, which is everything Apple's table depends on.

An M3, M4 or later chip with 12 GB of memory or more puts your Mac in the 14 GB group. Any other Apple silicon Mac is in the 8 GB group. If the window lists an Intel processor, Apple Intelligence isn't available, and none of this post's figures apply.

The macOS version tells you which steps apply later on. macOS 26 Tahoe still has a single switch for Apple Intelligence; macOS 27 Golden Gate doesn't.

Why does Storage settings show more than Apple's figure?

Since macOS 27 arrived, several outlets have reported Storage settings lines well above Apple's ceiling. MacRumors saw 20.67 GB on an M4 Pro Mac mini. Ars Technica reported 22.42 GB on an M3 MacBook Air, and about 14 GB on an M1 MacBook Air and a MacBook Neo, which Apple lists at up to 8 GB.

Owners posting screenshots have reported figures from about 24 to 30 GB. Some of those readings came from beta and release candidate builds, so they may not match the final release.

Apple hasn't explained the gap, and it hasn't said whether its figure and the Storage settings line count the same things. Treat the line as an estimate of what macOS attributes to Apple Intelligence, not as a promise of what you'd get back.

• Apple's figure, most Macs8 GB · Managed by macOS
• Apple's figure, M3 or later with 12 GB memory14 GB · Managed by macOS
• Readings reported on macOS 2714–30 GB · Managed by macOS

Apple's figures are from its Apple Intelligence support article (September 2026). The readings are what Storage settings showed on Macs tested by MacRumors and Ars Technica and in owners' reports, across macOS 27 betas and the release.

What are the models, and why are they so large?

A language model is mostly numbers: billions of learned values, called parameters, stored in files. The more parameters, the larger the files. Apple compresses its models heavily, but they still take gigabytes.

Apple's machine learning research team describes the third generation of its models, released with macOS 27, as a family of five. Two run on your Mac:

• AFM 3 Core, a model of about 3 billion parameters.
• AFM 3 Core Advanced, a sparse model of about 20 billion parameters that uses only 1 to 4 billion of them for each request. Apple says it's "unlocked by and optimized for" its most capable Apple silicon.

Apple says Core Advanced keeps the whole model in flash storage and loads only the parts each request needs into memory. That's a design that trades disk space for memory. Apple doesn't publish how much disk space either model takes, or which Macs get which.

Language models aren't the only part. The folders Apple Intelligence uses also hold models for images, and Apple's own Siri, dictation and search features keep further assets next to them.

How do you see what Apple Intelligence uses on your Mac?

1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then click Storage.
2. Wait for the bar at the top to finish counting.
3. Click the information button next to macOS.

The window that opens shows the macOS version and the space attributed to Apple Intelligence. There's nothing to select or delete in it: it's a figure, not a list of files.

Where Apple Intelligence's models live on a Mac

Why isn't Apple Intelligence counted in System Data?

Storage settings sorts everything into categories. Apple describes macOS as macOS system applications and files, and System Data as files that don't fit the other categories. The models are part of macOS, so they're counted in the first.

That matters when you go looking for space. A large System Data figure is caches, snapshots, logs and app data, and the System Data guide explains what's in it. Apple Intelligence won't be there, however large it is.

Which folders hold the models?

macOS downloads parts of itself after installation and keeps them in /System/Library/AssetsV2: voices, dictionaries, fonts, speech data and the models Apple Intelligence uses. The Apple Intelligence models sit in folders whose names begin com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM, such as the ones for generative and visual models.

System Integrity Protection guards these folders. Finder can show the folders' names, but macOS doesn't let you, or the apps you run, look inside them or change them. The page on Apple Intelligence models lists the exact location.

Why do disk tools show different numbers?

Apps that measure the disk folder by folder can't read inside these folders, because macOS doesn't let them. So they either leave the models out or count them differently from Storage settings.

That's one reason figures for Apple Intelligence vary so much between articles. Storage settings is the figure Apple gives you, and it's the one to compare against Apple's ceiling.

What you see	Where	What it means
The Apple Intelligence line	Storage settings, information button next to macOS	Space macOS attributes to Apple Intelligence
The macOS category	Storage settings bar	All of macOS, including Apple Intelligence
System Data	Storage settings bar	Everything else without a category; not Apple Intelligence
/System/Library/AssetsV2	Finder, Go to Folder	The folder of downloaded system parts; sizes hidden

What changed in macOS 27 Golden Gate

macOS 27 changed two things that matter for storage: the models arrive without being asked for, and there's no longer one switch to turn Apple Intelligence off.

Do the models download automatically?

Yes. Apple says the next generation of Apple Intelligence is "automatically available" on eligible devices once they update to the 27.0 releases, in supported languages and regions.

Apple's developer documentation adds how. Models are downloaded automatically, based on factors like network status, battery level and system load. So the space can appear hours or days after an update, when your Mac is on power and a good connection.

What happens while the models are downloading?

Until the models arrive, the features that need them aren't ready. Apple's developer documentation gives apps a specific reason for this state, "model not ready", separate from a Mac that isn't eligible or has Apple Intelligence turned off.

Nothing needs doing. Leave the Mac connected to power and the internet, and the download finishes when conditions suit it. The space it takes shows up under macOS in Storage settings as it lands, so a figure that rises over a day or two after an update is normal.

If your disk is nearly full when the download starts, that's the moment the space is tightest. Making room before a major update, rather than after, gives macOS room for both the update and the models.

Can you still turn Apple Intelligence off?

On macOS 26 Tahoe, yes: Apple documents a switch in System Settings › Apple Intelligence & Siri.

On macOS 27, Apple's guide is titled "Turn off and restrict access to Apple Intelligence features on Mac", and it lists a switch for each feature instead: Siri AI, summaries, Smart Replies and others. It doesn't document a single switch for Apple Intelligence as a whole. Reports from MacRumors and others say that switch was removed.

Task	macOS 26 Tahoe	macOS 27 Golden Gate
Settings for Siri and Apple Intelligence	System Settings › Apple Intelligence & Siri	System Settings › Siri
Turn Apple Intelligence off	The switch next to Apple Intelligence	No single switch; turn features off one by one
Use Siri without Siri AI	Not applicable	Turn Off Siri, then Turn On Siri and Use Siri Classic
Block features for yourself or a child	Screen Time › Content & Privacy › Intelligence & Siri	Siri restrictions in Screen Time
See the space used	General › Storage, information button next to macOS	General › Storage, information button next to macOS

Does the model change with each macOS update?

Yes. Apple's developer documentation says it updates the on-device model in routine OS updates, and lists three versions so far: one for 26.0 to 26.3, one for 26.4, and one for 27.0.

Each update can replace the models, and the new ones can be larger or smaller. If the Apple Intelligence line changes after an update, that's expected. It's also why Apple's figures are ceilings: they leave room for what's coming.

Why does the language matter?

Apple Intelligence needs your Mac's language and Siri's language set to the same supported language. Apple supports 16 languages on the Mac, and says Apple Intelligence may become unavailable after you change Siri's language until the new language finishes downloading.

Apple doesn't document whether switching languages removes anything downloaded for the old one, so don't change languages to free space.

Which features run on your Mac, and which don't

Not everything called Apple Intelligence runs on your Mac. Some features send requests to Apple's servers, and one hands them to ChatGPT. Only the on-device part needs model files on your disk.

Which Apple Intelligence features use Apple's servers?

Apple's research post lists three server models that run on Private Cloud Compute, the server system Apple built for Apple Intelligence. Apple's Mac User Guide says features that rely on server-side models have daily usage limits, and names Siri AI, Intelligent Photo Editing Tools, Image Playground and the cloud models in Shortcuts.

When a feature runs on a server, the model itself stays there. Using those features more doesn't add model files to your Mac, though anything they create for you, such as an edited photo, is saved like any other file.

Does ChatGPT in Apple Intelligence use storage?

ChatGPT runs on OpenAI's servers, so it adds no model to your Mac. Where it's available, it's an extension you choose to use. The conversations and anything you save from them take the usual small amount of space. ChatGPT's own Mac app is a separate download, with caches of its own.

Do apps that use Apple Intelligence download their own models?

Apps that use Apple's Foundation Models framework don't. Apple describes the framework's on-device model as the model that powers Apple Intelligence, so an app using it shares the copy macOS already keeps.

Other AI apps are different. Local model runners, image generators and some browsers download models of their own, often larger than Apple's. Those sit in your own Library or home folder, and you remove them in the app that downloaded them.

Which features need the larger Macs?

Apple's Siri guide says Siri's Expressive Voices need a Mac with M3 or later and at least 12 GB of unified memory. Those are the same Macs Apple lists at up to 14 GB, and Apple's research post says its larger on-device model is what makes expressive voices possible.

So the extra space on those Macs buys extra features. A Mac in the 8 GB group isn't missing a download; it doesn't get those features at all.

Feature or service	Where its model runs
Writing Tools, summaries, Smart Replies	On your Mac, with Apple's servers for some requests
Siri AI (Beta)	Apple's servers, with daily limits
Image Playground, photo editing tools	Apple's servers, with daily limits
ChatGPT extension	OpenAI's servers
Apps using Foundation Models	On your Mac, sharing macOS's copy
Other AI apps and local models	On your Mac, from their own downloads

Turning off Apple Intelligence features

Turning features off changes what your Mac does. Whether it changes how much space the models take is a separate question, covered after the steps.

How do you turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 26 Tahoe?

1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings.
2. Click Apple Intelligence & Siri in the sidebar.
3. Click the switch next to Apple Intelligence to turn it off.

To turn it on again later, return to the same place. Depending on your Mac, you'll see the switch or a Turn on Apple Intelligence button.

How do you turn off Apple Intelligence features on macOS 27?

Apple's guide for macOS 27 lists each feature and where its switch is:

• Siri AI (Beta): in System Settings › Siri, click Turn Off Siri and confirm. To keep Siri without Siri AI, click Turn On Siri afterwards and choose Use Siri Classic.
• Message summaries: in Messages, choose Messages › Settings and turn off Summarize Messages.
• Email summaries: in Mail, choose Mail › Settings, click Viewing, and turn off Summarize Message Previews.
• Notification summaries: in System Settings › Notifications, click Summarize Notifications and turn it off.
• Smart Replies: in Mail, choose Mail › Settings, click Composing, and turn off Personalize Smart Replies.
• Voicemail suggestions: in Phone, choose Phone › Settings, click Calls, and turn off Suggestions in Voicemail.
• Writing prompts: in Journal, choose Journal › Settings, click General, and turn off Get Writing Prompts.

Suggestions from your apps and call context cards are managed per app, in the App Access section of Siri settings.

Does turning Apple Intelligence off free up space?

Apple doesn't document it either way. On macOS 26, the catalog entry for these models says macOS manages them after you turn Apple Intelligence off, and the space may not come back right away.

On macOS 27, turning off individual features doesn't remove the models, according to MacRumors and other reports, and Apple offers no button that does. Turn features off because you don't want them, not to save space.

What about Screen Time restrictions?

Screen Time can block Apple Intelligence features for you or for a child. On macOS 26, open System Settings › Screen Time, click Content & Privacy, turn on the restrictions, then click Intelligence & Siri to block Writing Tools, Image Creation or Intelligence Extensions such as ChatGPT.

Restrictions hide the features and their menu items. They don't touch the models on disk, so they free no space.

Can you delete Apple Intelligence's models?

Is there a supported way to remove them?

No. Apple offers no setting, button or app that deletes the models on macOS 26 or macOS 27. They're part of macOS in Apple's design, protected the same way as the system itself.

That puts them in the same group as the rest of macOS: Managed by macOS. macOS decides when they arrive, when they're updated and when they go.

What about Recovery workarounds and removal scripts?

Since macOS 27, a few articles and third-party scripts have described removing the model folders by hand, either from macOS Recovery or with Terminal commands. Apple doesn't support either route.

Both mean deleting files System Integrity Protection exists to guard. In the test MacDailyNews reported from AppleInsider, Storage settings' Apple Intelligence line fell from 27.59 GB to 3.07 GB, but available space rose by only about 14 GB. Reports also say the models may download again.

Weigh what you'd risk against what you'd gain. A mistake in Recovery can leave a Mac that doesn't start up, and a later update may undo the work. Never paste a command from a web page to do it: commands that delete files can't be undone, and fake cleanup guides are a known way to spread malware.

Will reinstalling macOS remove them?

Not for long. Reinstalling puts back the same version of macOS, and on macOS 27 Apple says Apple Intelligence becomes available automatically on eligible Macs. The models download again once your Mac is online and settled.

Reinstalling to save space rarely helps for the same reason it rarely shrinks System Data: what filled the disk comes back.

Can you move the models to an external drive?

No. Unlike local model runners, which often let you choose a folder, Apple offers no setting to keep its models anywhere but the startup disk. macOS expects them in its own protected location.

If your startup disk is small, the room has to come from your own files and apps instead. The last sections of this post go through where.

Mistakes to avoid

• Turning off System Integrity Protection to reach the models. It lowers the protection of the whole system to remove one feature's files, and macOS may put them back.
• Deleting folders in AssetsV2 you don't recognize. They hold parts of macOS other features rely on, such as speech, dictionaries and fonts.
• Changing your Mac's language to make Apple Intelligence unavailable. Apple doesn't document that it frees space, and it changes how your whole Mac works.
• Using an app that promises to delete AI data. Ask what it removes and how. If the answer involves system folders, it's working around macOS's protection, not with it.
• Reinstalling macOS. The models download again on an eligible Mac.

Apple Intelligence compared with the models you install

On a developer's Mac, or anyone's who experiments with AI, Apple Intelligence is often not the largest model on the disk. Models you download yourself work very differently, and the difference decides what you can do about each.

Who decides when a model arrives?

macOS decides for Apple Intelligence. It downloads the models when your Mac is eligible, updates them with macOS, and keeps them whether or not you use the features.

You decide for everything else. A local model runner, an image generator or a transcription app downloads a model when you ask for it, and keeps it until you remove it. Each model you try stays, so a few experiments can add up to more than Apple Intelligence.

Does every user account get its own copy?

Apple Intelligence's models live in a system folder, not in anyone's home folder, so one copy serves every account on the Mac. A second user doesn't double the space.

Models you install are usually per user. They often sit in a hidden folder in your home folder or in your Library, so two people who download the same model may each keep a copy.

What's different about removing them?

Apple Intelligence's models can't be removed, moved or trimmed. Models you install can be removed in the app that made them, and many apps let you keep their models on another drive instead.

	Apple Intelligence	Models you install
Who downloads them	macOS, automatically	You, in an app
Where they live	A protected system folder	Your home or Library folder
Counted in Storage settings as	macOS	Usually System Data
Can you remove them?	No	Yes, in the app
Can you move them to another drive?	No	Often, in the app's settings
Shared between user accounts?	Yes	Usually not

The local AI models guide shows where the common tools keep their models and how each one removes them.

Other on-device assets you can manage

Apple Intelligence's models aren't the only thing macOS downloads after installation. A few of the others have settings that remove them, and they're worth checking on a tight disk.

Translation languages

macOS can download languages so it translates on your Mac instead of on Apple's servers. Each language you download stays until you remove it.

1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click General, then click Language & Region.
2. Click Translation Languages. You may need to scroll down.
3. Click Remove next to a downloaded language you don't use.

Without a downloaded language, translations into or out of it need Apple's servers, so they don't work offline or with On-Device Mode turned on. Download it again from the same list when you need it.

Voices for reading text aloud

The voices your Mac uses to read text aloud are downloads too, and higher-quality voices are larger. Apple's steps are the same in macOS 26 and macOS 27:

1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Accessibility, then click Read & Speak.
2. Click the information button next to System voice, then click a voice's name.
3. Swipe left with two fingers on a voice you don't use, then click Delete.

A voice you remove downloads again the next time you choose it.

Speech, dictionaries, fonts and the rest

macOS keeps many other downloaded parts in the same protected folder as Apple Intelligence: speech recognition data, dictionaries, fonts, and the files for software updates. They come and go as features need them. The catalog lists them as macOS downloaded assets, and there's nothing in them for you to remove by hand.

If you develop software, Xcode adds downloads of its own: simulator runtimes, platform support and optional components. You manage those in Xcode's Components settings, not in System Settings.

Download	Where to manage it	Can you remove it?
Apple Intelligence models	Nowhere; macOS manages them	No
Translation languages	General › Language & Region › Translation Languages	Yes, with Remove
Voices for reading aloud	Accessibility › Read & Speak	Yes, with Delete
Speech data, dictionaries, fonts	Nowhere; macOS manages them	No
Models in other AI apps	The app that downloaded them	Yes, in that app

Making room when Apple Intelligence fills a small disk

How much free space should you keep?

Apple's figure is the least you need for the models themselves. On a Mac that will get macOS updates, keep more than that free, because updates need working space too and can replace the models with new ones.

If an update says there isn't enough space, the post on making room for a macOS update goes through what to clear first.

A worked example on a 256 GB Mac

Say you have a MacBook Air with M3, 16 GB of memory and a 256 GB disk. Apple's figure for it is up to 14 GB, a little over 5% of the disk. If Storage settings shows 20 GB, as some Macs on macOS 27 report, that's nearer 8%.

On that Mac, the useful moves are elsewhere. A single old iPhone backup, a season of downloaded TV, a folder of screen recordings or a few local AI models can each be larger than Apple Intelligence, and all of them are yours to remove.

Where to look first

• The Trash. Items in it still take space until you empty it.
• iOS Files in Storage settings. Backups of devices you no longer have, and iPhone software update files, which download again when needed.
• Downloads and large files. Click the information button next to Documents and sort by size.
• Other AI models. A local language or image model takes a few gigabytes when small and tens of gigabytes when large, and it's removed in the app that made it.
• System Data. Caches, logs and developer files that rebuild by themselves.

Each of these gives back space you control, which macOS won't take back on its next update.

Does Apple Intelligence slow down a Mac?

Having the models on disk doesn't make a Mac slower, and removing files to make room doesn't make it faster. The models are loaded into memory only when a feature uses them.

When they do run, they use memory like any other large app. On a Mac with little memory to spare, macOS may move other data to swap files on the startup disk for a while, which is one more reason to keep some space free.

What if the figure looks wrong?

New models come with new versions of macOS, so check the Apple Intelligence line after each major update and compare it with Apple's figure for your Mac. A change after an update is expected. The post on storage that fills up after a macOS update covers what else an update adds.

If the line stays far above Apple's figure and the disk is tight, contact Apple Support. Apple is the only one who can change what macOS keeps, and a report from your Mac is more use to it than a workaround.

How the app does it

Wombit explains Apple Intelligence's models like everything else on the disk. Select them in the map or the list, and the inspector says what they are, who manages them and what your choices are, from the catalog entry and its sources.

They're Managed by macOS: explained, with Apple's own steps, and never moved or offered for removal. They don't count toward the safe total, so the headline number never includes space you can't get back.

• /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_*

  Apple Intelligence models

  The on-device language and image models that Apple Intelligence features use.

  Managed by macOS · Explained only: never removed

• /System/Library/AssetsV2/*

  macOS downloaded assets

  Parts of macOS downloaded after installation, such as speech and language data, voices, fonts, dictionaries and on-device models.

  Managed by macOS · Explained only: never removed

For items no catalog rule explains, the inspector can give a Best guess, written on your Mac by Apple Intelligence and labelled as a guess. File names and paths never leave your Mac.

Seeing all of this is free. Cleanup for the parts you can remove, such as caches, old iPhone backups and large old files, is PRO, one $4.99 payment with lifetime access.