FWIW, I clicked “skip” on a popup to set up apple intelligence and I didn’t see it again.

Of course this might change in future. And Mac OS has other popups where there is no “skip” and only “remind me later”.

Not technically under the umbrella of Apple Intelligence, but you might be surprised to find out what photoanalysisd is doing.

And if the surprise is unpleasant you can disable it by turning off memories and holidays in the settings of the photo app. Not so easy to escape Copilot on Windows.

That's more or less my experience with Copilot on Windows.

Even the linked blog post indicates that that is not the case. Windows has Copilot buttons on practically every built in application, a taskbar icon, and a dedicated physical keyboard key that people commonly accidentally hit (contractually required for OEMs to provide). They also actively promote Copilot in the OS (particularly Home Edition with nothing disabled e.g. "Tips," Notification Spam, Recommendations, etc).

Nobody can predict what Apple will do tomorrow, but as of today, they aren't really pushing Siri/Apple intelligence really hard particularly after initial setup. None of most of the above for example.

I have Pro Edition and for me Copilot only added two icons. One in Notepad and another one in Paint. I ignore both. There's also the Copilot app that I didn't even know I have installed.

I don't know what happens with Home Edition, but I though the pushback was mainly from Insider Preview?

You want to take a look at Microsoft office, my bad Microsoft copilot 365...

You can't even select a cell on notepad without a freaking copilot button pooping up every single time. Same on word, that's maddening !

You could argue that windows isn't Microsoft copilot 365, but then, why do people even use windows ? It's always because of the office, my bad, copilot 365 suite.

You can also get rid of both of them very easily with O&O Shutup 10++ (or any of many other GUIs or scripts designed for the same purpose of decrapifying Windows). I toggled off Copilot and Onedrive and haven't seen either in all the years I've been using Windows 11.

Apple Intelligence has a global off button that actually works. It's unobtrusive anyways. Copilot on the other hand...

So the issue isn't actually that it's baked into the OS, it's that you should have control over when it's used.

I'm not GP, so I can't comment on where their line is, but for me the difference between Copilot and Apple Intelligence is that I can turn off the latter and never see anything about it again. Copilot, on the other hand, is everywhere and it's almost all universally buggy garbage, even when it's disabled.

I actually trust the Apple Intelligence, when off, doesn't exfiltrate my data.

Oh yeah and even when you turn off preferences/settings/features in Windows, they mysteriously come back later in one of the unilateral forced updates, against your wishes.

Yea I respect that.

I too would not want any unprompted access to my files.

At the end of the day this issue is that we don't trust the OS and we cannot easily validate how it is designed to behave.

> So the issue isn't actually that it's baked into the OS, it's that you should have control over when it's used.

Baked into the OS implies that it's integral to its operation in a way that the two are fundamentally inseparable. Having a global off switch implies that's not true.

There are other irritating baked in aspects of the newest macos and other recent versions that are arguably less avoidable, like Tahoe's entire UI design, or the Settings app.

Apple intelligence even when activated is just not as annoying and obtrusive.

The real issue is copilot is implemented in their apps inconsistently. Very clear there’s little cross app planning. Apples solution is global and apps and hook into it or not. And if you turn it off apps done break.

Apple Intelligence is basically unseen in day to day use.

This is it. You can easily disable the whole thing with one toggle, and even when it's on it never gets in your face.

I use Macs for both work and personal use and I don't really notice Apple Intelligence.

Maybe it's doing stuff that doesn't rise to my level of attention, but it isn't actively annoying me.

I use apple products daily and apple intelligence has never interrupted me. I don't even know what it is. So, no.

Why would Apple Intelligence bother them? It's very unobtrusive and actually useful when it's visible. I literally don't notice it except when it's helpful.

I don’t think I’ve ever even noticed Siri/Apple intelligence on macOS. I’ve disabled it somehow (probably at install) and have not heard about it since

Is it incontrovertibly built in to macOS? I have an iPhone and have never enabled it or Siri, so maybe there is similar off switch for macOS.

It’s like Siri, or spell check, if you don’t use it you turn it off and it doesn’t bother you again.

You like it you turn it On, you don’t you turn it Off

Have you even tried it? I'm a Mac user for 20+ years and I'm running Tahoe. Not once have I ever thought about Apple Intelligence. I don't even notice it. I think you have to switch it on.

Yes, that's my point though. It's not about being built into the OS, it's about being controllable.