I said no and Apple said yes
I Said No, But Apple Said Yes
By David Bushell — Web Developer (UK)
One of the primary benefits of maintaining a personal blog is the ability to create a precise chronological record. For instance, I can state with absolute certainty that at 9:51am on Wednesday, February 5th, 2025, I discovered that macOS 15.3 had activated a feature that transmitted personal data back to Apple's servers every 15 minutes.
Initially, Apple provided a mechanism to opt-out. However, they strategically buried the second part of the process—because making a "no" easy is clearly not their priority.
The Transition to macOS 27
After enduring a campaign of persistent harassment from the OS, I finally gave in last week and updated from macOS 15 to macOS 27. Upon doing so, I realized that Apple had simply deleted the "no" switch.
The Consent Gap
The current state of the "AI" sector is riddled with failures. Most notably, the concept of consent seems to have been omitted from both their corporate manuals and their training datasets.
When Apple debuted their deepfake capabilities in June, it became evident that they are no longer "thinking different." While digging through the settings of macOS 27, I attempted to disable Siri once again.
# Attempting to kill Siri processes...
ps aux | grep -i siri
# Result: Multiple unkillable processes still consuming RAM and writing data.
Notably, the "Apple Intelligence" toggle has been decoupled from this control.
The "Workaround"
After searching the web, I found that some settings are now sequestered under Screen Time restrictions. It is important to note: these do not actually disable Apple Intelligence; they merely hide the "slop tools" from the menus to clean up the UI.
Despite having "Apple Intelligence Siri" turned off previously, all of this bloat was automatically enabled during the upgrade to macOS 27.
The Cost of "Intelligence"
The final insult is the massive amount of disk space being occupied by this software.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| AI Storage Footprint | 22.28 GB |
| Apple's Storage Pricing | £500 / TB |
| Estimated "Stolen" Value |
Using LaTeX to calculate the theft:
A Broader Pattern of Coercion
The message is clear: you cannot opt out. If you try to say "no," the system will simply ignore you or remove your ability to speak. My existing AI policy, which outlined my concerns, is now hopelessly obsolete because the situation has deteriorated so rapidly.
Recent Industry Headlines
"The list is endless. There is no limit to the human toll required to keep this bubble inflated."
- X (formerly Twitter): Child Sexual Abuse Material continues to persist despite Elon Musk's promises.
- OpenAI: Currently facing over 50 lawsuits regarding wrongful death and consumer harm.
- OpenAI & Microsoft: Admitting that LLMs are built on theft and are actively destroying the open web.
The "AI Bro" Logic
I am often told by AI enthusiasts to "just turn it off." Here is the reality of that process:
- Find the "Off" switch.
- Toggle the switch to "Off."
- Update OS.
- [!] Switch disappears.
I may be viewed as a radical, but I refuse to kowtow to billionaires or fund a generation of psychopaths who build their empires on privacy invasion and a total lack of consent.
About the Author Written by a human. All opinions are my own and not the product of a large language model.
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