diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 5750afb7..6456d907 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Imports:
     checkmate,
     matrixStats (>= 0.52),
     parallel,
-    posterior (>= 1.5.0),
+    posterior (>= 1.7.0),
     stats
 Suggests:
     bayesplot (>= 1.7.0),
diff --git a/R/psis.R b/R/psis.R
index ce5207d8..eb6fb647 100644
--- a/R/psis.R
+++ b/R/psis.R
@@ -213,61 +213,42 @@ do_psis_i <- function(log_ratios_i, tail_len_i, ...) {
   # shift log ratios for safer exponentation
   lw_i <- log_ratios_i - max(log_ratios_i)
   khat <- Inf
+  smooth_tail <- TRUE
 
-  if (enough_tail_samples(tail_len_i)) {
-    ord <- sort.int(lw_i, index.return = TRUE)
-    tail_ids <- seq(S - tail_len_i + 1, S)
-    lw_tail <- ord$x[tail_ids]
+  if (
+    enough_tail_samples(tail_len_i)
+  ) {
+    lw_tail <- utils::tail(sort.int(lw_i), tail_len_i)
     if (abs(max(lw_tail) - min(lw_tail)) < .Machine$double.eps / 100) {
       warning(
         "Can't fit generalized Pareto distribution ",
         "because all tail values are the same.",
         call. = FALSE
       )
-    } else {
-      cutoff <- ord$x[min(tail_ids) - 1] # largest value smaller than tail values
-      smoothed <- psis_smooth_tail(lw_tail, cutoff)
-      khat <- smoothed$k
-      lw_i[ord$ix[tail_ids]] <- smoothed$tail
+      smooth_tail <- FALSE
     }
   }
 
+  if (smooth_tail) {
+    smoothed <- suppressWarnings(posterior::ps_tail(
+      x = lw_i,
+      ndraws_tail = tail_len_i,
+      tail = "right",
+      are_log_weights = TRUE
+    ))
+
+    lw_i <- smoothed$x
+    khat <- smoothed$k
+  }
+
   # truncate at max of raw wts (i.e., 0 since max has been subtracted)
   lw_i[lw_i > 0] <- 0
   # shift log weights back so that the smallest log weights remain unchanged
   lw_i <- lw_i + max(log_ratios_i)
 
-  list(log_weights = lw_i, pareto_k = khat)
+  list(log_weights = lw_i, pareto_k = if (is.na(khat)) Inf else khat)
 }
 
-#' PSIS tail smoothing for a single vector
-#'
-#' @noRd
-#' @param x Vector of tail elements already sorted in ascending order.
-#' @return A named list containing:
-#' * `tail`: vector same size as `x` containing the logs of the
-#'   order statistics of the generalized pareto distribution.
-#' * `k`: scalar shape parameter estimate.
-#'
-psis_smooth_tail <- function(x, cutoff) {
-  len <- length(x)
-  exp_cutoff <- exp(cutoff)
-
-  # save time not sorting since x already sorted
-  fit <- gpdfit(exp(x) - exp_cutoff, sort_x = FALSE)
-  k <- fit$k
-  sigma <- fit$sigma
-  if (is.finite(k)) {
-    p <- (seq_len(len) - 0.5) / len
-    qq <- qgpd(p, k, sigma) + exp_cutoff
-    tail <- log(qq)
-  } else {
-    tail <- x
-  }
-  list(tail = tail, k = k)
-}
-
-
 #' Calculate tail lengths to use for fitting the GPD
 #'
 #' The number of weights (i.e., tail length) used to fit the generalized Pareto
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_psis.R b/tests/testthat/test_psis.R
index d43b6ed0..f67bd05d 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test_psis.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_psis.R
@@ -150,14 +150,11 @@ test_that("do_psis_i throws warning if all tail values the same", {
     "all tail values are the same"
   )
   expect_equal(val$pareto_k, Inf)
-})
-
-test_that("psis_smooth_tail returns original tail values if k is infinite", {
-  # skip on M1 Mac until we figure out why this test fails only on M1 Mac
-  skip_if(Sys.info()[["sysname"]] == "Darwin" && R.version$arch == "aarch64")
 
-  xx <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4)
-  val <- suppressWarnings(psis_smooth_tail(xx, 3))
-  expect_equal(val$tail, xx)
-  expect_equal(val$k, Inf)
+  xx <- c(4, 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 3, 4, 4)
+  expect_warning(
+    val <- do_psis_i(xx, tail_len_i = 6),
+    "all tail values are the same"
+  )
+  expect_equal(val$pareto_k, Inf)
 })