MacOS 15 Apple Intelligence - Feature Set, Disabling

[iamYaje]

Hi all,

Jumping into this can of worms. I run MacOS classroom environments in higher-ed with around 100 computers. So far each year the fall release of a new major MacOS comes with challenges and feature breaking in our rather "custom" setup. Looking into the coming Fall 2024 releases, I'm most concerned about the ability to disable and manage features with the beta Apple Intelligence. AI/LLM feature sets are cool, but they are still a wild-wild-west hazard in education environments.

I figured I'd post here and see whether anyone has some inside information on whether these features will be immediately configurable by admins. Anything obvious I've missed so far? Has this information just not been released?

Thanks!

[jamf-42]

last thing I read is this won't even be available till 'Spring 2025' so I'd expect by then there will be more info regarding locking all this down. Edu / Corp.. we all need the ability to control what is a massive DLP issue.. and Im sure Apple have thought of this.. 😲 and of course.. none of this is coming to Intel.. or the EU (for now) 

[AJPinto]

Keep in mind, macOS 15 and anything related to AI is behind NDA at the moment, so you won't get much information on public channels. I suggest taking this to the mac Admins Slack and request access to the Developer Seed channel. 

I'd expect to see AI in beta around August when Apple does their major Beta build update, but there is no telling. As far as MDM management, there are no options at this time that I am aware of, and I strongly suggest you submit feedback to Apple on this.

[iamYaje]

Thanks to both of you - these are very fair points. I figured it was a long shot, but the NDA point seems pretty obvious now.

I took your advice and submitted some feedback to Apple. A drop in the ocean, but we'll see. 

[AJPinto]

Feedback can very much feel like yelling into the void. However, if you use the feedback.app on macOS, and log in to it with a managed AppleID issued from your Apple School Manager account, that will link the feedback to your organization. You can also view Feedback submitted through the app like a ticket and see if anyone has added any notes.

[grahamr]

Make sure when you log it (or update it) you flag it as a Deployment Blocker (IE we cannot deploy Sequoia to our fleet of X devices if we cannot control or disable XYZ)

In this case, likley looking for clarification on disabling PCC vs on device

[obi-k]

It'll be interesting where the macOS 15 Security Benchmarks align with the AI Features. Once this is released, we can see what we'll be able to disable and enforce with Jamf Compliance Editor.