Public libraries in the United States and beyond are hosting "Avoiding AI" workshops as growing numbers of consumers seek to disable artificial intelligence features embedded in their devices. The sessions, led by librarians in Philadelphia and Maine, have drawn unprecedented attendance amid mounting frustration over what participants describe as forced adoption of AI tools by major technology platforms.
Librarians Respond to Surge in Demand for AI Opt-Out Guidance
The workshops originated with Hannah Cyrus, a librarian at Bangor Public Library in Maine, who developed the curriculum after fielding repeated requests from patrons struggling to disable AI features in email clients, search engines, and operating systems. "More and more, I was getting questions about, 'How do I turn this stuff off?'" Cyrus told TechCrunch. "People wanted to know why their one-sentence emails were being summarised by AI, or why their search results were being altered without their consent."
Cyrus's initial workshop attracted 70 attendees—including those joining via livestream—far exceeding the typical dozen participants for her standard digital literacy classes. When Charlie Bailey, a librarian in South Philadelphia, replicated the format, his library's Instagram post about the event garnered over 2,000 likes and 220 shares, a response he described as "unprecedented" for the institution's social media content.
Step-by-Step Instruction Meets Broader Concerns Over Tech Autonomy
The workshops begin with an overview of how consumer AI tools function, followed by platform-specific demonstrations on disabling features such as Apple Intelligence and Google's Gemini. Bailey, standing in a classroom designed for children's literacy programmes, guides participants through the process of reclaiming control over their devices. "As a librarian, I see this as advancing digital literacy," he said. "It's about helping people decide for themselves whether they want to engage with these tools."
Attendees' motivations vary. Some cite environmental concerns over the energy demands of AI data centres, while others express frustration with workplace mandates. Gabrielle, a participant in Philadelphia, noted: "I'm not against AI in terms of medical breakthroughs, but I keep getting it shoved down my throat at work." The workshops also foster peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, with one attendee demonstrating how to append "&udm=14" to Google searches to exclude AI-generated results.
Movement Reflects Wider Skepticism of Forced Tech Adoption
The popularity of these sessions suggests a growing public unease with the rapid integration of AI into everyday technology. Cyrus observed that the workshops may represent a tipping point: "The forced adoption of AI on people's devices might be the straw that's breaking the camel's back. There's been a long-simmering awareness that these products and the companies behind them have an outsized influence over our lives."
While the workshops focus on opting out, neither Cyrus nor Bailey advocate for a wholesale rejection of AI. Both acknowledge the technology's utility in specific contexts, such as optical character recognition for digitising library archives. The movement, instead, appears to centre on the principle of informed choice—a value that resonates strongly with the librarians' professional ethos of information access and user autonomy.
As of publication, neither Apple nor Google has commented on the workshops or the broader consumer pushback against their AI integrations. Libraries in other cities are reportedly exploring similar programmes, though no formal network or standardised curriculum has yet emerged.
