This is so annoying, changing the UI scale fixed it for me. I had to change it, then change it back to what I wanted. Then it started working again.

I have noticed the problem, but only since changing the default Mac cursor in System Settings › Accessibility › Display › Pointer

I would be interested to know if other people with this problem have modified their default Mac cursor or not.

@troyjack chasing the UI scaling seemed to help.
I found the small too small, but after setting it back to my preference the issue didn't return after a quick test.

I'm crossing my fingers this is a solution as it was behaving terribly yesterday. Thanks for the tip!

Just started happening to me on 28.0 after changing the UI scaling to medium in prefs.
Imac Ventura 13.6.1 AMD Radeon pro 5700

I have the same problem. Someone please fix this!!!!!!!

I'm having the same problem. I just updated to 27.9 and now this suddenly appeared. It's maddening!! PLEASE FIX!!!!!

Turn off "Use Precise Cursor" option in General Settings.

Same thing here, uninstall, reinstall, delete prefs, nothing works. Even bought a new Macbook pro. (my other one is 9years old so I tought this was the problem.) Its been over a year now that I have this cursor bug.

I started having this problem again when I upgraded to 27.7.0. It happened in the past with an earlier version of AI, but disappeared after a previous update. I'm running MacOS 12.6.5 on a M1 Max Macbook pro.

This bug slows down my productivity quite a bit while working. I couldn't believe it came back after being fixed a couple versions ago. Resetting prefs doesn't help at all.

I'm running the CadTools 13.2.3 plugin, a couple Astute Graphics plugins, and Axo Tools 23.2.7.0 plugin. All of these plugins worked fine with the previous version of AI, and I did not have the bugs that I do now.

I have previously reported this and still have the same issue months later. It slows down my workflow and causes mistakes that I continuously have to go back and fix. Since the proper tool icon won't show up simple things like going from Rotate to Selection constantly cause issues.

I am using Illustrator 27.6.1 on Mac and no update has made any difference. At this point, I have no faith that it will be fixed.

Same problem. I do lots of repetitive work using hotkeys and this has burned me many times.

I have this issue too! It's absolutely infuritating! Illustrator 27.6.1 on Mac.

I have this issue too, in 27.4.1. Sometimes mousing over the tools panel fixes it; usually it does not.

This issue causes a big waste of time in the workflow. One of the reasons it has so little "votes" is that it is hard to google the proper keywords to find the issue. (i.e. "zoom not working" is easy to figure out, but "Cursor won’t change when a tool is picked using keyboard shortcuts" is a harder one to guess.} This "vote" system is surrealistic. IT IS AN ISSUE I've been using Illustrator since 1988. I've just updates to 27.4.1 and the issue is still there. Very frustrating.

It's frustrating, to say the least. I find myself hitting the key for the desired tool several times before my next action.

Oh, yes, Philip, I do understand. If I had this problem, I’d be mad. An inconsistency like this is like a splinter in the eye, I can vividly imagine. Still, some problems I personally have, have only one vote — mine. Argh.
27.3.1 fixes this specific problem: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/46336564
(notice it gained 32 votes in a week). It affected almost everybody, due to the nature of the bug, who received 27.3 (it gets rolled out in phases), and still, only some came here and reported it. The more votes — the more attention.
As for CADTools — well, third-party plugins CAN cause problems like this or other ones, worth checking! So please try to backup you Tools Panel Presets file, your workspace (an important step to revive them later, otherwise Ai won’t restore them properly) and try to remove the CADTools’ .aip files from the Plugins folder temporarily.
Even if it won’t help — it means more information and less routes. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for the reply Egor. For those of us who have this problem it is infuriating. If I could fix it myself I would.

I am running v27.3. A new upgrade, v27.3.1 is out but I haven't upgraded yet. I have CADTools installed, do you think that could be causing the issue?

Philip, the purpose of this forums is to gather feedback and prioritize it. So far the problem doesn’t have enough votes. Sure, this count is not definitive threshold, since UV is still not actively used by all Ai users (most of them prefer to just overcome their problems instead of reporting them), but this value is the only public metric the team has.
The but is no pleasant (like if there are pleasant bugs), but there are more nastier ones so far. More votes — more attention.
Sorry, but there is nothing I personally can do with it, except for testing it (and sadly, this bug seems to affect only Macs — I don’t have it), and replying with a useless reply like this :(
Are you still on 27.0.1?

What's the point of this USERVOICE forum if there is no response from Adobe Admin? This is a significant defect in Illustrator and we haven't heard anything from Adobe on how or when this will be fixed. This has been going on for over 6 months.

YES! this drives me crazy and slows me down considerably. PLEASE FIX!!!