Key Takeaways
- Reclaiming Digital Autonomy: Librarians nationwide are launching “Avoiding AI” workshops, empowering individuals with the practical skills to disable pervasive artificial intelligence features in their everyday tech.
- Unprecedented Public Demand: These workshops are experiencing overwhelming popularity, from waitlisted registrations to viral social media engagement, signaling a widespread public desire for greater control and choice over AI integration.
- A Nuanced Resistance, Not Rejection: The movement isn’t anti-technology but rather a call for digital literacy and user agency, pushing back against the “forced adoption” of consumer AI while acknowledging the utility of AI in other contexts.
“Everybody’s on their phone at my program!” jokes Charlie Bailey, a librarian in South Philadelphia, his voice echoing through a cheerfully adorned library classroom. He’s just asked his audience — a diverse group of two dozen adults — to pull out their devices, not for a quick scroll, but to embark on a guided journey: disabling Apple Intelligence and Google’s Gemini from their digital lives.
The irony isn’t lost on anyone. Bailey stands on a vibrant rug designed for tots, where “M is for moon” and “Z is for zebra” offer a stark visual contrast to the complex digital literacy lesson at hand. These adults aren’t here for the alphabet; they’re at a workshop aptly titled “Avoiding AI,” where the acronym certainly doesn’t stand for “apple” and “igloo.” It’s a striking scene that encapsulates a growing sentiment: a quiet, yet determined, pushback against the pervasive creep of artificial intelligence into our daily routines.
The Unasked-For Revolution: Why Users Seek the ‘Off’ Switch
“I was inspired by the feeling of people’s frustration with AI tools being kind of forced onto them, and feeling like AI tools we didn’t ask for are suddenly everywhere in our lives,” Bailey told TechCrunch, articulating a sentiment many silently share. His hour-long workshop begins with a foundational overview, demystifying how AI chatbots and other consumer-facing tools operate. He meticulously explains the potential benefits, but crucially, dedicates significant time to outlining the reasons one might opt to abstain.
The practical segment is where the real empowerment happens. Projecting step-by-step instructions, Bailey guides attendees through the labyrinthine menus of popular tech platforms and devices, demonstrating precisely how to deactivate specific AI-driven features. It’s a masterclass in digital self-determination, turning abstract anxieties into concrete actions.
“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,” Bailey emphasized. “It’s important, especially when it can be so difficult not to use them, and when the design seems to force adoption.” This perspective elevates the workshop beyond mere troubleshooting; it frames it as a fundamental act of digital citizenship.
From Maine to Mainstream: The Genesis of a Movement
Bailey’s inspiration wasn’t isolated. He credits Hannah Cyrus, a librarian at the Bangor Public Library in Maine, as the pioneer. Bailey was one of dozens of librarians globally who reached out to Cyrus after she published a journal article detailing her own workshop development. “This has never happened before with anything I’ve worked on,” Cyrus shared with TechCrunch, expressing surprise at the unprecedented interest. “Nobody has ever been emailing me like, ‘Can you give me your Intro to Computers slides?’”
Cyrus, the go-to tech guru for Bangor patrons, noticed a distinct shift in the types of questions she was receiving. “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?’” These weren’t isolated queries; they represented a burgeoning frustration. “I just decided that with so much media hype out there about AI products, it would be a good opportunity to teach people about the basics of what is happening when you’re using this technology, and then getting into how to turn it off if you don’t want to use it.”
A Groundswell of Skepticism and Solidarity
The public’s response to these “Avoiding AI” workshops has been nothing short of phenomenal. Cyrus typically sees about a dozen attendees for her “Intro to Computers” classes. For her first AI workshop, interest was so overwhelming that she had to cap registration at 30, open a waitlist, and even offer a Zoom livestream. Combined, approximately 70 people attended each of her first two sessions – a clear indicator of unmet demand for this specific brand of digital literacy.
Philadelphia echoed this sentiment. When Bailey launched his workshop, the library’s Instagram post announcing “Avoiding AI” garnered over 2,000 likes and 220 shares – figures vastly outstripping the typical few dozen likes on their other posts. The initial session quickly filled, forcing him to schedule a second. “As an information professional, it feels good to see people skeptical of AI,” Bailey reflected. “It felt really good to see how many people share this feeling.”
Within the workshop, a tangible sense of camaraderie fills the room. Strangers exchange knowing glances and even offer their own digital survival tips. One attendee, for instance, shared a Google Search hack: appending “&udm=14” to a query effectively hides AI-generated results. Bailey diligently scrawls the string of characters on a whiteboard, right next to the teen Wi-Fi credentials – a testament to the practical, community-driven nature of the learning.
The motivations for attending are as varied as the attendees themselves. “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,” mused Johnny, highlighting concerns about the physical footprint of AI infrastructure. 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 quickly added a crucial nuance: “I’m not against AI in terms of medical breakthroughs.”
Beyond the Binary: Nuance in AI Adoption
This distinction is critical. The “anti-AI” movement championed by these workshops isn’t a wholesale rejection of technology. Attendees, and indeed the librarians themselves, recognize the immense value of AI in specific, non-intrusive applications. Cyrus points to optical character recognition (OCR) – an AI-powered tool invaluable for digitizing historical documents at the library – as a prime example of beneficial AI.
For Cyrus and her workshop participants, the focus is on control, agency, and freedom in how technology is used, not a complete abstinence. “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 observed. “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.”
Bottom Line
The unexpected rise of “Avoiding AI” workshops in public libraries marks a significant cultural moment in our digital age. It reveals a burgeoning public skepticism towards the unchecked proliferation of artificial intelligence, especially when it feels intrusive or unsolicited. Far from being luddites, these attendees represent a digitally literate populace demanding greater transparency and autonomy from tech giants. Libraries, traditionally bastions of information access and literacy, are stepping into a vital new role: empowering individuals to navigate the complex AI landscape with choice, not just compliance. This movement signals a growing demand for user-centric design and a future where opting out is as straightforward as opting in, challenging the tech industry to rethink its approach to AI integration and truly prioritize user agency.
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