Apple Intelligence: How much RAM does it actually use?

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

I’m going to order a new Mac mini, and obviously the base RAM is now 16gb. We can assume this is to help out with AI in macOS rather than Apple being extremely generous.

But how much RAM does AI actually require even at minimal use or idle? This seems like an unknown quantity at this point.

I ask because my current MBP is 16gb and I get along about okay with that, with Lightroom CC and Photoshop as my main apps. I don’t intend on using AI on a regular basis as the features don’t appeal to me, so the RAM upgrade situation has become complex.

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has first-hand experience of Apple Intelligence in macOS.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

I think it’s really unknown at this point since Apple Intelligence is basically just ChatGPT which is now integrated in the new beta as of typing this. I also don’t think Apple Intelligence will ever get to the point of needing dedicated RAM.

My conspiracy theory; Apple is using their AI as the excuse to upgrade/standardize memory across their devices to not only save money in production costs but to save face to the consumers. Apple doesn’t have to “admit” they been fleecing consumers for years, because AI “requires” it bro, and since they didn’t increase prices they look like the good guys.

 

[Alameda]

I think it’s really unknown at this point since Apple Intelligence is basically just ChatGPT which is now integrated in the new beta as of typing this. I also don’t think Apple Intelligence will ever get to the point of needing dedicated RAM.

My conspiracy theory; Apple is using their AI as the excuse to upgrade/standardize memory across their devices to not only save money in production costs but to save face to the consumers. Apple doesn’t have to “admit” they been fleecing consumers for years, because AI “requires” it bro, and since they didn’t increase prices they look like the good guys.

Apple is including AI because it’s the new drug. It’s the new thing. Apple is behind on AI and they’re not doing a great job catching up. I installed Apple AI last night and asked Siri what can I do with Apple AI, and it said I can ask for the weather.

Apple, are you ***** kidding me? Siri/Alexa/Google “What’s the weather?” is not something new. It’s not even AI, it’s just voice recognition.

Rant aside (phew, I feel so much better!) there’s a big switch in System Settings to turn it on or off and, at least right now, it’s something you need to choose to download.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

I think it’s really unknown at this point since Apple Intelligence is basically just ChatGPT which is now integrated in the new beta as of typing this. I also don’t think Apple Intelligence will ever get to the point of needing dedicated RAM.

My conspiracy theory; Apple is using their AI as the excuse to upgrade/standardize memory across their devices to not only save money in production costs but to save face to the consumers. Apple doesn’t have to “admit” they been fleecing consumers for years, because AI “requires” it bro, and since they didn’t increase prices they look like the good guys.

This is good to know, as I was thinking that the update would allocate RAM to AI regardless of whether it was used or not. Thanks

 

[Alameda]

This is good to know, as I was thinking that the update would allocate RAM to AI regardless of whether it was used or not. Thanks

See? You can just turn it off. And you can turn Siri off, too.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

See? You can just turn it off. And you can turn Siri off, too.
View attachment 2448567

I know you can turn it off, thank you. I’d rather keep it on because there will be odd occasions where I do need the feature, but I think an issue at the moment is not knowing what will actually fall under AI and how much RAM it will use.

 

[Alameda]

I know you can turn it off, thank you. I’d rather keep it on because there will be odd occasions where I do need the feature, but I think an issue at the moment is not knowing what will actually fall under AI and how much RAM it will use.

Interesting question... So I tested it.

First, I opened Settings and turned off Siri and Apple AI, then I rebooted the computer and opened nothing but the System Monitor application. I waited about 60 seconds for things to stabilize, and it reported about 8 to 8.22 GB of "memory used" in my 16 GB MacBook Pro.

I opened Settings and turned on Siri and Apple AI, and memory increased to 8.9 GB. Closed settings, with Apple AI still enabled, and memory used fell to 8.3. Then I spoke to Siri, and memory used jumped to 8.9 GB.

So Apple AI doesn't seem to use much memory, except when it's doing something. Next, with Apple AI Siri now turned on, I restarted the computer and opened System Monitor. And then it said... 7.58 GB of "memory used."

Makes no sense, but that's what happened. The only conclusion I can reach is that Apple AI uses no significant amount of memory when it's idling. Keeping it turned on and listening doesn't seem to have an impact. Why it shows less memory when rebooting with Apple AI enabled... I don't know. Maybe the computer was doing some sort of background housekeeping task; I can't say.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Thank you so much for testing this! That’s definitely put any fears I had to rest, I’ll stick with 16gb.

 

[Alameda]

Thank you so much for testing this! That’s definitely put any fears I had to rest, I’ll stick with 16gb.

I’m not an expert, but that’s how it seems.

 

[saudor]

And then it said... 7.58 GB of "memory used."

Makes no sense, but that's what happened

the OS also caches things so that used amount would vary, plus the whole free memory is wasted memory ordeal.

Ideally, if it's possible locate the binary, it would shed some light but i reckon it's deeply integrated into the system and gets lumped inside something generic like kernel_task

 

[Alameda]

the OS also caches things so that used amount would vary, plus the whole free memory is wasted memory ordeal.

Ideally, if it's possible locate the binary, it would shed some light but i reckon it's deeply integrated into the system and gets lumped inside something generic like kernel_task

I suppose I could repeat the test and look at memory used by every single task, but I think this little test has run its course. Likely, reproducing the test would result in different memory use each time, but I believe we see that enabling Apple Intelligence has a very minor impact on RAM use, which is what our friend was concerned about.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

@Alameda I like how you describe this as a way of justifying the RAM increase. From what you say about the system performance, AI might use RAM temporarily to complete tasks but it won’t be held in memory. I hope this is the case.

 

[Alameda]

@Alameda I like how you describe this as a way of justifying the RAM increase. From what you say about the system performance, AI might use RAM temporarily to complete tasks but it won’t be held in memory. I hope this is the case.

MeToo!! And I love your user name!
I wrote a thesis in college about Apple’s Knowledge Navigator video. In the portion where I described the professor looking up climate change, my professor wrote in the paper, “He should have gone to the library and looked it up! Then he might have learned something!”

He was right. Computer technology was supposed to help us learn, not get dumber.

 

[August West]

I think it’s really unknown

My conspiracy theory

In our current environment anything unknown automatically defaults to a conspiracy theory usually with nefarious intentions.

 

[Alameda]

In our current environment anything unknown automatically defaults to a conspiracy theory usually with nefarious intentions.

Very convenient! That way, you never need to learn anything, you can just make up any nonsense you want and pretend it’s true.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Very convenient! That way, you never need to learn anything, you can just make up any nonsense you want and pretend it’s true.

Story of my life (especially work)

My CV is pure conjecture

 

[Tagbert]

Apple is including AI because it’s the new drug. It’s the new thing. Apple is behind on AI and they’re not doing a great job catching up. I installed Apple AI last night and asked Siri what can I do with Apple AI, and it said I can ask for the weather.

Apple, are you ***** kidding me? Siri/Alexa/Google “What’s the weather?” is not something new. It’s not even AI, it’s just voice recognition.

Rant aside (phew, I feel so much better!) there’s a big switch in System Settings to turn it on or off and, at least right now, it’s something you need to choose to download.

Keep in mind that Apple is deploying its ai in stages and the new Siri with AI is not expected to launch until some time after the new year. What you get now with Siri is still the same system under that hood that has been there for years.