Corporate IT managers and military buyers are not blocking Mac purchases over Apple Intelligence, despite speculation that macOS Golden Gate’s removal of a user-facing disable switch could harm enterprise sales, AppleInsider reported on 8 October after speaking to IT managers off the record.
IT managers at Fortune 500 companies with anti-generative AI policies say that Mobile Device Management (MDM) systems such as Jamf can remotely disable Apple Intelligence on managed Macs. “We can do enough with Jamf to turn what we want off, and prevent installations of third-party [AI] apps,” one IT manager told AppleInsider. As a result, Apple Intelligence does not prevent them from purchasing new Mac hardware.
Additionally, as of October 2026, the US Department of Defense has not issued a prohibition on purchasing new Apple hardware for secure facilities specifically because of Apple Intelligence, according to the report. Some secure facilities already require third-party modification of Apple hardware, such as removal of Wi‑Fi chips, for classified uses — a practice unrelated to Apple Intelligence. End users can also remove Apple Intelligence models from Macs via dedicated apps or command-line tools, reclaiming storage space.
AppleInsider notes that the speculation arose after Apple removed the general setting for disabling Apple Intelligence in macOS Golden Gate. It also references a 2015 remark from Tim Cook in which Apple’s enterprise revenue reached $25 billion over the prior year.