Turning off Apple Intelligence in macOS 27 won't remove its downloaded models, but properly deleting the main model folder can free valuable internal SSD space. Apple doesn't provide a button for removing those downloaded files, so reclaiming the space requires going into Recovery and deleting the model folder directly. This isn't an Apple-documented storage-management procedure, and the amount of space recovered can differ from the size macOS attributes to Apple Intelligence. In our test, the Mac started normally afterward and gained about 14 GB of available disk space.

Before the deletion, the Mac Storage pane attributed 27.59 GB to Apple Intelligence. Afterward, it showed 3.07 GB, and the Mac started normally. That 24.52 GB drop in the Storage category wasn't the same as the increase in available disk space. Apple's storage requirements call for up to 14 GB on Macs with an M3 or later chip and at least 12 GB of unified memory, or up to 8 GB on other compatible Macs. The Storage pane can attribute more space to Apple Intelligence. Measure the storage before you begin.

Check the Apple Intelligence figure before changing any settings. Open System Settings and select General. Click Storage. Find macOS in the storage breakdown and click its information button. Note the amount listed for Apple Intelligence. Our Mac showed 27.59 GB before deletion. We also checked the model folders in Terminal while macOS was running. This command lists folders with the relevant name: ls -ld /System/Library/Assets V2/com_apple_Mobile Asset_UAF_FM*. To see how much space each folder occupies, run: du -sh /System/Library/Assets V2/com_apple_Mobile Asset_UAF_FM*. Our Mac had a 23 GB Generative Models folder, a 2.9 GB Visual folder, and a 6.8 MB Overrides folder. We deleted only Generative Models in this test.