Wondering where your CPU cycles went? Check AI.

jkr on 1 Mar 2025
Latest activity Reply by goc3 on 1 Mar 2025

Recently my iMac became sluggish. I checked Activity Monitor and found it was spending most of its time in mds_stores. I turned of Apple Intelligence under System Settings - Apple Intelligence & Siri, and its like new again.
goc3
goc3 on 1 Mar 2025
I am still running macOS 13.6, so I do not have Apple Intelligence; I also have Siri turned off (and have for a while now). Yet, I also sometimes see mds_stores utilizing an inordinate amount of CPU and RAM.
The mds_stores process performs an important task by indexing all the files on your computer:
So, in your case, Apple Intelligence and/or Siri probably ramped up the amount of indexing that was necessary (beyond what Spotlight requires).
jkr
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