Librarians are hosting viral ‘Avoiding AI’ workshops for people who are fed up with Big Tech

Public Libraries Lead Grassroots Pushback Against Forced AI Adoption

A grassroots movement is gaining traction in public libraries, where workshops on "Avoiding AI" are drawing unexpectedly large crowds. Librarians in cities from Philadelphia to Bangor, Maine, are guiding consumers through the process of disabling generative AI features from major tech platforms, highlighting a growing public frustration with the aggressive, top-down integration of tools from companies like Apple and Google.

The workshops, initiated by librarian Hannah Cyrus and replicated by others like Charlie Bailey, provide both education and practical instruction. Sessions begin with an overview of consumer AI before shifting to step-by-step guides for opting out of specific features, such as Apple Intelligence and Gemini integrations. The demand has been significant, forcing organizers to create waitlists and add sessions. Key takeaways from these sessions focus on empowering users:

• Step-by-step instructions for disabling integrated AI on personal devices.
• Community-sourced tips, such as using the "&udm=14" URL parameter to hide Google's AI-generated search results.
• Discussions on the motivations for opting out, from usability issues to environmental concerns about data centers.
• Framing the ability to opt-out as a core component of modern digital literacy.

This trend represents a tangible form of consumer pushback against Big Tech's "AI-everywhere" strategy. While companies invest billions to embed AI deeply into their ecosystems, these workshops reveal a segment of the user base that feels a loss of agency. The sentiment, as one librarian noted, is that the "forced adoption of AI on people’s devices might be the straw that’s breaking the camel’s back." This user resistance could create friction for widespread AI adoption and pressure companies to make opt-out mechanisms more prominent and accessible, rather than designing interfaces that implicitly guide users into the new paradigm.

The grassroots success of 'Avoiding AI' workshops indicates a growing market for user-centric control and opt-out mechanisms, a demand that Big Tech's current 'AI-everywhere' strategy may be underestimating at its own peril.