In a small library classroom in South Philadelphia, a group of adults sits on a colorful rug designed for children—where M stands for 'moon' and Z for 'zebra.' But they are not here for alphabet lessons. They have gathered for a workshop titled 'Avoiding AI,' a growing movement among librarians who are helping people regain control over their devices.

Charlie Bailey, a librarian at the South Philadelphia branch, stands at the front of the room. He asks everyone to pull out their phones. 'Everybody’s on their phone at my program!' he jokes. For the next hour, he will walk them through the steps to disable Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini, two of the most prominent AI tools that have been automatically integrated into smartphones and apps.

Bailey started these workshops after noticing a surge in patron frustration. 'I was inspired by the feeling of people’s frustration with AI tools being kind of forced onto them,' he said. 'And feeling like AI tools we didn’t ask for are suddenly everywhere in our lives.' The workshop begins with an overview of how AI chatbots and consumer AI tools work, explaining both the benefits and the reasons why people might want to abstain. Then Bailey projects step-by-step instructions on how to turn off specific features across the most popular tech platforms and devices.

The Origins of the Avoiding AI Movement

Bailey’s inspiration came from Hannah Cyrus, a librarian in Bangor, Maine. Cyrus had been fielding an increasing number of questions from patrons who were confused and annoyed by AI features that kept popping up on their devices. 'More and more, I was getting questions about, “How do I turn this [AI] stuff off? Why is it trying to write my emails for me? Why is it trying to summarize my one-sentence email that I can easily read?”' she recalled. In response, she developed her own 'Avoiding AI' workshop and published a journal article about it. Bailey was one of dozens of librarians who contacted her after reading the piece.

'This has never happened before with anything I’ve worked on,' Cyrus said. 'Nobody has ever been emailing me like, “Can you give me your Intro to Computers slides?”' The interest was immediate and overwhelming. Cyrus’s usual classes, such as Intro to Computers, attract about a dozen attendees. But for her first Avoiding AI workshop, she had to cap registration at 30 people and open a waitlist; with a livestream option, about 70 people attended each of her first two sessions.

Viral Success and Community Response

When Bailey replicated the workshop in Philadelphia, the response was similarly unprecedented. The library’s Instagram post about the event garnered over 2,000 likes and 220 shares—far exceeding the typical few dozen interactions. He scheduled a second program because the first quickly filled up. 'As an information professional, it feels good to see people skeptical of AI,' Bailey said. 'It felt really good to see how many people share this feeling.'

During the workshops, a sense of camaraderie develops. Attendees share their own tips for avoiding AI. One person explained that appending '&udm=14' to a Google search hides AI-generated results. Bailey wrote the string on a whiteboard next to the login credentials for the teen Wi-Fi server. Another attendee, Johnny, voiced a common concern: 'You have to go through all the trouble to buy a home in today’s world, and two years from now, there could be a data center next to your house.' Gabrielle, another participant, added, 'I keep getting AI shoved down my throat at work, and every time I see it, I think about the environment.' Yet she is not against all AI: 'I’m not against AI in terms of medical breakthroughs.'

Digital Literacy and Autonomy

The Avoiding AI movement is not about rejecting technology altogether. Cyrus noted that optical character recognition is incredibly useful for scanning old documents at the library. Instead, the workshops are about advocating for more control, agency, and freedom in how people use technology. 'I think the forced adoption of AI on people’s devices might be the straw that’s breaking the camel’s back in some ways,' Cyrus said. 'The awareness has been growing for a long time that these products and these companies that make them have an outsized influence over us, and that we’re not really using these products in the way that we would like to.'

Bailey frames the workshops as an extension of digital literacy. 'As a librarian, I think it’s important to see this as advancing digital literacy and helping people reclaim their autonomy over whether they want to use AI tools,' he said. 'It’s important, especially when it can be so difficult not to use them, and when the design seems to force adoption.' The workshops cover not only smartphones but also laptops, web browsers, and popular apps like Google Search, Microsoft Office, and social media platforms. Attendees learn how to disable AI writing assistants, image generators, search result summaries, and predictive text features.

Broader Context: The Rise of 'AI Fatigue'

The popularity of these workshops reflects a broader phenomenon that technology experts call 'AI fatigue' or 'AI backlash.' After a wave of enthusiasm following the release of tools like ChatGPT in late 2022, many consumers are now expressing discomfort with the rapid proliferation of AI features across everyday devices. Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center and other organizations have shown that a significant portion of the public is concerned about privacy, job displacement, and the environmental impact of large-scale AI operations. In 2025, a poll found that nearly 60% of Americans believed AI was being introduced too quickly into products they use daily.

Librarians have historically played a key role in helping communities navigate new technologies. From the early days of the internet to the rise of social media, libraries have offered free classes on digital literacy, privacy protection, and critical thinking. The Avoiding AI workshops are a natural extension of that mission, especially as AI becomes more pervasive and opaque. 'People want to know what’s happening on their own devices,' Cyrus explained. 'They want to feel that they are in charge, not the other way around.'

The workshops also tap into a growing movement of 'tech skepticism' that includes campaigns for right-to-repair, data privacy legislation, and the push for 'slow technology'—a philosophy that advocates for deliberate, mindful use of digital tools rather than constant optimization and automation. Some participants have even started forming small groups to continue meeting and sharing resources after the workshops end.

What the Workshops Teach

The curriculum of a typical Avoiding AI workshop includes: an explanation of how large language models and AI assistants work; a discussion of the trade-offs between convenience and control; and detailed, step-by-step instructions for disabling AI features on Apple iOS (including Apple Intelligence), Android (including Google Gemini and Assistant), Windows, macOS, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and popular apps like Gmail, Google Docs, and Office 365. Participants also learn how to opt out of AI training data collection, how to use search engines that do not rely on AI (like DuckDuckGo or Brave Search), and how to identify hidden AI features in software updates.

The workshops are free and open to all. Bailey’s sessions typically last about an hour, but they often run longer because of the lively Q&A portion. 'People have so many questions and stories to share,' he said. 'It’s a very engaged group.'

The success of these workshops has inspired other librarians across the country to start their own programs. A network of 'Avoiding AI' facilitators is emerging, sharing slides, handouts, and best practices. Cyrus and Bailey have both been invited to present at library conferences and have received messages from librarians in Europe, Canada, and Australia who want to adapt the model for their communities.

As the movement grows, the core message remains clear: technology should serve people, not the other way around. Attendees leave with practical knowledge and a renewed sense of empowerment. 'I feel like I have my device back,' one participant said after a recent workshop. 'It’s not spying on me or trying to do my thinking for me.' For librarians like Bailey and Cyrus, that feeling is the ultimate reward.

Source: TechCrunch News