Is it possible to remove Apple Intelligence and Image Playground from my Mac?

Not inferring anything, not implying anything, just stating facts... from my personal experience, confirmed by several news updates.

No need to discuss that any further... have a good day.

Apple Intelligence is built in MacOS. As such, Apple Intelligence, nor Image Playground can't be removed from a Mac. You don't have to sign into or use it. This may not be the answer you were looking for, but it's the right answer. And I don't see how you can be in violation of whatever contracts you may have, if Apple Intelligence isn't used, if it is disabled. Generative AI would not be touching your files.

If you'd like to share your thoughts with Apple, you can use this link --> Product Feedback - Apple

Now, unlike iOS or iPadOS, it may be possible to downgrade to MacOS Sonoma. That wouldn't include Apple Intelligence at all. You'd be better served by asking how in the MacOS forum and someone may be able to help you with that.

It is absolutely correct. Apple Intelligence appeared in System Settings with the 15.3 update, and I immediately turned it off. It has remained off through the 15.3.1 update.

Yes, there was a message bugging me about turning it on (twice, I think). I dismissed it each time and didn't need to do anything else. AI is still off.

GordonFreemanC17 wrote:

So again, this statement "But, you can turn it off and it stays off unless you choose to turn it back on." is not correct.

Are you suggesting that Kurt Lang is lying when they report their experience? Which also seems to mirror the experience of most people?

Well, "lying" sounds harsh.

Maybe Kurt Lang is living in a different country (Germany) or using different hardware (Macbook Air M1). Also the articles state that "some users have this issue", which is not the same as "all users"...

But I'm not arguing :-) I made my case, proved it, so nothing further to add... :-)

I'm in the U.S. We have an M2 Pro mini and an M4 Pro mini. Both running Sequoia 15.3.1. Both have AI off, and it remains off through any startups or restarts.

No one here is saying you're lying. Clearly, something is not working as it should since the OS should never disregard your choice.

It's still worth discussing as it may help others to find the cause, and arrive at a solution.

Try creating a new user account. Turn AI off there and test by logging out and back in, and also shutting the Mac down and logging into the new account.

If it remains off, as expected, then something is wrong in your normal account. If it turns itself back on, then it may be an OS issue (unlikely as it should then happen to everyone), or it's possibly being caused by a third party daemon in the root Library folder.

In the event that it may be a corrupt .plist file, these files in the user account Preferences folder get updated when turning Siri or AI on and off.

ContextStoreAgent.plist

com.apple.xpc.activity2.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.plist

com.apple.icloud.searchpartyuseragent.plist

systemgroup.com.apple.icloud.searchpartyd.sharedsettings.plist

com.apple.assistant.plist

com.apple.assistant.support.plist

com.apple.commerce.knownclients.plist

com.apple.Siri.plist

com.apple.assistant.backedup.plist

com.apple.CloudSubscriptionFeatures.diagnostic.plist

alaskanime wrote:

At risk of sounding like I'm venting, I flatly don't understand why Apple refuses to give an option to opt out completely of these apps. The developers behind the datasets that power these apps literally scraped my copywritten artwork from my storefronts and took money from my pocket, as well as countless other artists' work. That's not even getting into all the CSAM the datasets contain according to Stanford research (and even they admit that with the new "clean" datasets, there's still probably stuff they missed).

I don't want a reminder of that every time I open up my System Preferences. It doesn't matter that I can "turn it off" - I want it gone. It's frustrating to say things like this and get pushback of "this is fine" when I have direct experience of how "not fine" it is.

Telling us what you want or why you think you should have what you want isn't going to get you anything. We aren't Apple. We're all users here on this user to user only forum, just like you.

Tell Apple what you think they should give you --> Feedback - macOS - Apple

But don't expect to get what you want. Apple Intelligence is baked into MacOS. And we don't, nor will likely ever have the option to remove things from the OS simply because we don't want them there. Operating system just don't work that way, even if you think they should.

But, you can turn it off and it stays off unless you choose to turn it back on.

Sorry, this statement is not correct.

I turned off "Apple Intelligence" when it first appeared some weeks ago.

Now, after upgrading to the latest MacOs Version 15.3.1, I got a short notification about this feature, only having the "continue" option, and this "feature" got turned on again in the background and started download some models.

My statement to the Apple management: if I decide to opt out, then I WANT IT TO STAY THAT WAY, for all future updates.

Enforcing an unwanted feature on the end user is in my opinion unacceptable. Enforcing it AFTER HAVING OPT OUT is completely unacceptable.

Well, in my case, it got turned back on.

And: this has already been covered in some news updates, like:

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/11/apple-intelligence-re-enabled-in-latest-updates/

"Some users are reporting that Apple's latest software updates are

quietly re-enabling Apple Intelligence features, even after they had

explicitly disabled them in the previous update."

https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/did-you-turn-off-apple-intelligence-updating-to-ios-18-3-1-or-macos-15-3-1-mightve-turned-it-on-again

"Have you turned off Apple Intelligence? Well it might've been turned on again when you updated to the latest iOS 18.3.1 or macOS 15.3.1."

So again, this statement "But, you can turn it off and it stays off unless you choose to turn it back on." is not correct.

GordonFreemanC17 wrote:

My statement to the Apple management: if I decide to opt out, then I WANT IT TO STAY THAT WAY, for all future updates.

Enforcing an unwanted feature on the end user is in my opinion unacceptable. Enforcing it AFTER HAVING OPT OUT is completely unacceptable.

Apple Management doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

GordonFreemanC17 wrote:

Well, in my case, it got turned back on.

And: this has already been covered in some news updates, like:

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/11/apple-intelligence-re-enabled-in-latest-updates/

"Some users are reporting that Apple's latest software updates are

quietly re-enabling Apple Intelligence features, even after they had

explicitly disabled them in the previous update."

https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/did-you-turn-off-apple-intelligence-updating-to-ios-18-3-1-or-macos-15-3-1-mightve-turned-it-on-again

"Have you turned off Apple Intelligence? Well it might've been turned on again when you updated to the latest iOS 18.3.1 or macOS 15.3.1."

So again, this statement "But, you can turn it off and it stays off unless you choose to turn it back on." is not correct.

If you had turned off Apple Intelligence, pre-iOS 18.3, then went from pre-iOS 18.3 to iOS 18.3.1, then yes, Apple Intelligence was turned on for you. In iOS 18.3.1, you can turn it off and it will stay off when the next update is released. Please stop inferring something nefarious is going on. It's not nefarious and you don't have to use Apple Intelligence.

Case in point. A coworker doesn't wan to use Apple Intelligence. When he installed iOS 18.3, it was turned on and I told him it would be turned on. He then turned it off again and low and behold, when he installed iOS 18.3.1 it remained off.

As already stated by lobsterghost1, you can't remove it.

But, you can turn it off and it stays off unless you choose to turn it back on.

Just because something isn't working as it should for you doesn't make my statement wrong.