Apple Intelligence Taking Up 30GB+ on Some Macs Running macOS 27

Key Points:

• With the installation of macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple automatically downloads a multi-gigabyte AI model to Macs upon internet connection, making Siri AI and Apple Intelligence mandatory system components without an option to disable them.
• Apple states that the latest Apple Intelligence features require up to 14GB of on-device storage for Macs with M3 chips or later and at least 12GB of unified memory, and up to 8GB for other supported Macs, but actual storage usage has been observed to be significantly higher on some devices.
• Reports show storage usage for Apple Intelligence ranging from around 14GB on older Macs to over 30GB on some M3 Pro machines, with no clear explanation from Apple for the discrepancies or why devices not meeting the highest model requirements still use large amounts of storage.
• The mandatory download of large AI models contrasts with Apple's support documentation, which does not clarify how the "up to 14GB" figure relates to the storage shown in System Settings, and users cannot opt out of this storage allocation despite it being optional to use Apple Intelligence features.
• This increased storage requirement for AI models on macOS 27 comes amid rising memory and storage costs, frustrating users who must now allocate significant space for Apple's on-device AI without the ability to disable the feature.