Yes, really. Ebersj’s statement that Apple Intelligence adds another 7 GB to the storage required for iPadOS is correct and is backed by Apple. It’s a valid concern to have when compatible devices were sold with anemic storage. No one is claiming that 7 GB of storage is gone once Apple Intelligence is enabled, so it’s pointless to keep refuting a point that no one made.
The amount of data that Apple Intelligence is currently taking up on a device varies and the significance of that amount is subjective.
Currently, it is common to see Apple Intelligence use 2 - 6 GB of storage on a device depending. When Apple Intelligence first started rolling out, it required 4 GB of storage. Two months later it is now 7 GB. It’s safe to forecast that the storage requirement, and the amount of storage that it’s occupying on a device will increase as more features are added and Apple Intelligences nears the end of its beta.
Again, it is valid for people who purchased compatible devices with almost half of its storage consumed by the OS, or people who do not purchase iCloud storage to offload to to be concerned with Apple Intelligence’s growing storage requirement. It’s valid for them to seek a way to manage the storage that it’s taking up on their device, and it appears the only way to do that is by doing what Mac Jim ID suggested to do. Using devices with little free space is more common than one would think, but it would take one to look past their own hubris to see that.