I Said No and Apple Said Yes  🔗 **Source:** [I Said No and Apple Said Yes](https://dbushell.com/2026/09/22/apple-intelligence/) > [!note]+ Document Notes > --- > tags: [ai-consent, apple-intelligence, macos, privacy, opt-out-design] > author: David Bushell > source: dbushell.com > reference: https://dbushell.com/2026/09/22/apple-intelligence/ > date created: 2026-09-22 > --- > > [!info] Generated analysis — not the author's words. Sections below are machine-written > > from the captured source. Only text inside `> [!quote]` blocks is verbatim from the author. > > Do not quote or attribute any other line to the named author. > # 🏷️ Title: I said no and Apple said yes > ## 🧭 Table of Contents > - [📝 Summary](#-summary) > - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) > - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) > - [📚 References](#-references) > - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) > - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) > - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) > - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) > - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) > - [❓ Questions](#-questions) > - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) > - [💡 Implications](#-implications) > - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) > - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) > - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) > - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) > - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) > - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) > ### 🔗 References > - [Author's 2025-02-05 note: turning off the macOS 15.3 feature](https://dbushell.com/notes/2025-02-05T09:51Z/) > - [Author's 2026-09-16 note: upgrading to macOS 27](https://dbushell.com/notes/2026-09-16T05:01Z/) > - [Apple Support: Screen Time content restrictions on Mac](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlb2e44f94/mac) > - [Author's AI policy](https://dbushell.com/ai/) > ## 📝 Summary > - **What happened:** David Bushell, a UK web developer, upgraded a Mac from macOS 15 to macOS 27 and found that the Apple Intelligence off switch he'd used in February 2025 no longer exists. Features he'd turned off came back on, Siri processes kept running after he disabled Siri, and Apple Intelligence took 22.28 GB of disk. > - **Why it matters:** it's a first-hand, dated account of an opt-out that didn't survive an OS upgrade. The post argues the AI industry treats "no" as temporary. > - **Key stakeholders:** Mac users who opted out of Apple Intelligence; Apple; developers and admins who manage Macs; people who rely on settings persisting across upgrades. > - **Risks and tradeoffs:** the evidence is one user on one machine. Screenshots carry the proof, and Reader captured only their captions. The second half moves from Apple to the whole AI industry in heated, hyperbolic language. > - **Bottom line:** if an upgrade can remove an opt-out, the opt-out wasn't consent. Screen Time restrictions hide the menus but don't turn the feature off. > ## 📖 Main Content > - **The prior "no."** Bushell's February 5, 2025 note records turning off a macOS 15.3 feature that sent data home every 15 minutes. macOS 15 offered a top-level Apple Intelligence setting plus a second privacy setting further down. > - **The upgrade.** He moved from macOS 15 to 27. His aside, "I only skipped one major version, Apple skipped 10!", refers to Apple jumping its version numbers from 15 to 26 to match release years. > - **What changed.** The Apple Intelligence off switch is gone. Turning off Siri in macOS 27 no longer covers Apple Intelligence, and he reports Siri processes still running and writing data afterward. > - **Workaround.** Screen Time content restrictions (meant for parental controls, per Apple's support page) hide Apple Intelligence tools from menus. They don't disable the feature. > - **Disk cost.** Storage settings list Apple Intelligence at 22.28 GB. At his figure of £500/TB for extra MacBook storage, that's about £11 (22.28 GB × £0.50/GB = £11.14). > - **Wider argument.** He calls the storage cost trivial next to the consent problem, then argues the AI industry doesn't accept "no." He cites three September 2026 headlines (below) and ends on the post's thesis: people say "just turn it off," and then the option disappears. > - **Uncertain or unverified:** no Apple documentation is cited for removing the switch; that rests on his own settings screens. The "phoning home with personal data" description comes from his 2025 note and wasn't rechecked here. The £500/TB price is his figure. > ### 🗒️ Notes > - ¶1–4: Timestamped prior opt-out; macOS 15 had two settings to turn it off, one buried in privacy. > - ¶5–6: Upgrade to 27; the "no" switch is gone. > - ¶7: The consent argument begins; he links his June 2026 post about an Apple "deepfake feature." > - ¶8–9: Siri turned off again; Apple Intelligence no longer part of that control. > - ¶10: Screen Time restrictions as a partial workaround. > - ¶11: Everything was re-enabled despite "Apple Intelligence & Siri" being off before the upgrade. > - ¶12–14: 22.28 GB on disk; ~£11 at £500/TB. > - ¶15–18: Industry-wide critique, three linked headlines, closing line about billionaires and an "Epstein list." > - ¶19: The line the title comes from. > - **Capture gap:** Reader dropped the post's `<ul>` of three headlines. From the live page: NYT on CSAM persisting on X despite Musk's pledges; Futurism on 50+ consumer-harm and wrongful-death suits against OpenAI; 404 Media on OpenAI and Microsoft conceding LLMs harm the web. Screenshots are also absent; only their captions came through. > ## 📚 References > - [Apple Support: Use Screen Time content & privacy restrictions on Mac](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlb2e44f94/mac) — primary source for the workaround > - [dbushell.com note, 2025-02-05](https://dbushell.com/notes/2025-02-05T09:51Z/) — the original opt-out > - [dbushell.com, "Apple deepfakes" (2026-06-12)](https://dbushell.com/2026/06/12/apple-deepfakes/) > - [NYT, 2026-09-11: CSAM persists on X](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/technology/x-grok-child-images.html) > - [Futurism: OpenAI faces 50+ consumer-harm and wrongful-death lawsuits](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-consumer-harm-wrongful-death-lawsuits) > - [404 Media: OpenAI and Microsoft admit LLMs are destroying the web](https://www.404media.co/doom-loop-openai-and-microsoft-admits-llms-are-destroying-the-web-and-built-on-theft/) > - [David Bushell's AI policy](https://dbushell.com/ai/) > ## 🗣️ Paraphrase > - Because he blogs, he can pinpoint the minute in February 2025 when he found macOS 15.3 sending personal data every 15 minutes and switched it off. > - Apple offered that switch then, with a second one buried deeper. > - He finally upgraded to macOS 27 last week and today found the switch removed. > - He says the AI industry ignores consent, and Apple's June deepfake feature showed it's no different. > - Turning Siri off again didn't stop Siri processes, and Apple Intelligence is no longer part of that control. > - Screen Time restrictions hide the AI tools in menus without disabling them. > - All of it came back on even though he'd turned "Apple Intelligence & Siri" off before upgrading. > - Apple Intelligence now takes 22.28 GB, roughly £11 of storage at Apple's upgrade prices. > - The money doesn't matter next to the consent problem: the industry won't take no for an answer. > - His AI policy can't keep up; he lists three recent headlines about AI harms. > - He refuses to back billionaires funding non-consensual, privacy-invading products. > - People tell him to just turn it off, and then the off switch disappears. > ## 📰 Newsletter > - **The opt-out that didn't survive the upgrade.** David Bushell [documented](https://dbushell.com/notes/2025-02-05T09:51Z/) turning off Apple Intelligence in February 2025. After [upgrading to macOS 27](https://dbushell.com/2026/09/22/apple-intelligence/), the switch was gone, the features were back on, and 22.28 GB of disk belonged to a feature he'd declined. Apple's own [Screen Time restrictions](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlb2e44f94/mac) hide the menus but don't disable it. > - For WordPress folks, this is the same lesson in plugin form: if a plugin update turns a setting back on that an admin switched off, the admin never really had a choice. Preserving settings across upgrades is a trust feature, not a detail. Worth keeping in mind as AI features show up in core and plugin roadmaps. > ## ✅ Action Items > #### DevRel > - Developer advocacy: use this post as a case study for "se The nice thing about keeping a blog is that I can say at precisely 9:51am, [Wednesday 5th February 2025](https://dbushell.com/notes/2025-02-05T09:51Z/), I discovered that macOS 15.3 had enabled a feature that was phoning home every 15 minutes with personal data. And that I said “no” and turned it off. At the time Apple were generous enough to provide a setting to disable this feature. macOS 15 Apple Intelligence setting.macOS 15 Apple Intelligence setting. Although they hid the second part deeper, because why should saying “no” be easy? macOS 15 Apple Intelligence privacy setting.macOS 15 Apple Intelligence privacy setting. Last week [I succumbed to Apple’s harassment](https://dbushell.com/notes/2026-09-16T05:01Z/) and upgraded macOS 15 to 27. I only skipped one major version, Apple skipped 10! And today I discovered that Apple had removed the “no” switch. The “AI” industry has many flaws, the word “consent” being seemingly missing from training data and company handbooks is one of them. AI bros do not take “no” for an answer. When Apple advertised their [deepfake feature](https://dbushell.com/2026/06/12/apple-deepfakes/) back in June it became obvious Apple does not “think different.” Digging through macOS 27 settings I turned off Siri (again). Of course, multiple unkillable Siri processes remain, stealing memory and writing data. For what purpose? Who knows. Note that they removed “Apple Intelligence” from this control. macOS 27 Siri setting.macOS 27 Siri setting. Trawling the web I discovered [Apple has hidden settings](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlb2e44f94/mac) under “Screen Time” restrictions. This is supposed to be for parental controls. These settings don’t disable Apple “Intelligence” but they do clean up various menus by hiding the slop tools. All of this garbage was enabled after upgrading to macOS 27 despite me having “Apple Intelligence & Siri” turned off already. That was a rather explicit “no”, no? The icing on this cake is the 22.28 GB brick clogging my disk space. macOS 27 Apple Intelligence accounting for 22.28 GB.macOS 27 Apple Intelligence accounting for 22.28 GB. Apple is charging £500/TB on new MacBooks so that is what, £11 they’ve stolen from me? But that’s a trivial cost compared to the consent problem. The AI industrial complex does not do consent. You *will* use it. You cannot look away, it will be stuffed down your throat and if you say “no” they’ll cut out your tongue. The AI industry is vile. [My AI policy](https://dbushell.com/ai/) tried to list my concerns but it’s hopelessly outdated. I can’t keep up. Here’s just three of many headlines I collected this month: The list is endless. There is no limit to the human toll to keep this bubble inflated. Call me a radical but I’ve chosen not to kowtow to billionaires. Do you want another Epstein list? Because this is how you create another Epstein list. Fund a generation of psychopaths building on a foundation of non-consent and privacy invasion. Fantastic idea! AI bros keep telling me *“just turn it off”* and when I do they remove the choice., I Said No and Apple Said Yes, David Bushell, 01m34hx7q0tv1hdmx1fbhsbfab.