Apple is building Harbor, a new Mac app for running local AI

Apple is preparing to make Macs a hub for local artificial intelligence. According to findings by leaker Aaron Perris, the company is working on a new Mac app called Harbor. According to the report, the app will turn a Mac into a private AI inference server, running open-weight models locally on Apple silicon so that data never leaves the hardware.

The move builds on the Mac's growing popularity this year. Beyond budget-friendly options, machines like the Mac Studio and Mac mini have become appealing for people who want to run AI models locally. The article says Apple plans to lean harder into that second use case.

Harbor's standout feature is that it can connect multiple Macs over Thunderbolt 5 and pool their unified memory. That allows large models and higher concurrency than a single computer could handle alone. In effect, several Macs can work together like a more powerful AI server.

The app is currently in a private preview under Apple's Claris brand. According to the report, a public launch is likely in the weeks and months ahead. The development could make Macs more attractive to users who do not want to move AI workloads to the cloud.