In a small library classroom in South Philadelphia, librarian Charlie Bailey stands on a rug decorated with letters for children. But his audience—about 20 adults—is not learning the alphabet. They are there for a workshop called “Avoiding AI,” a practical guide to turning off artificial intelligence features on their phones, laptops, and other devices.
“Everybody's on their phone at my program!” jokes Bailey, who asks attendees to pull out their devices so he can walk them through disabling Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini. The workshop, which lasts about an hour, begins with an overview of how AI chatbots and consumer AI tools work. Bailey explains why people might want to use these products and why they might choose to abstain. Then he demonstrates step-by-step instructions for turning off specific features on the most popular platforms and devices.
Bailey was inspired by the work of Hannah Cyrus, a librarian in Bangor, Maine. Cyrus developed the original “Avoiding AI” workshop after noticing a surge in patron questions about how to disable AI tools. “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 told TechCrunch.
Cyrus published a journal article about her workshop, which caught Bailey’s attention. He was one of dozens of librarians from around the world who reached out to her. “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 Growing Demand for AI-Free Spaces
The popularity of these workshops reflects a broader public unease with the rapid integration of AI into everyday life. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, tech giants have been racing to embed generative AI into their products—from search engines and email clients to smartphones and social media. For many users, this has felt like a forced adoption, with new features appearing without clear opt-out options.
Cyrus’s typical classes, like Intro to Computers, draw about a dozen attendees. But her first Avoiding AI workshop had to cap registration at 30 people, with a waitlist and a Zoom livestream. Including the online audience, about 70 people attended each of her first two sessions. Bailey saw similar enthusiasm: the library’s Instagram post about his event garnered over 2,000 likes and 220 shares—far exceeding typical engagement. He scheduled a second workshop after the first filled up quickly.
“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 said. “It's important, especially when it can be so difficult not to use them, and when the design seems to force adoption.”
What the Workshops Cover
Attendees learn practical skills: disabling AI assistants, turning off AI-generated summaries in search results, and removing AI writing suggestions from email. One participant shared a tip: adding “&udm=14” to a Google search suppresses AI-generated overviews. Bailey wrote this string on a whiteboard alongside Wi-Fi login credentials.
The workshops also address broader concerns. One attendee named Johnny remarked, “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.” Another, Gabrielle, said she keeps “getting AI shoved down my throat at work, and every time I see it, I think about the environment.” Yet she acknowledged that AI has benefits: “I'm not against AI in terms of medical breakthroughs.”
This nuanced view is common among workshop participants. They are not Luddites rejecting all technology, but rather advocates for more control, agency, and freedom in how they use digital tools. Cyrus noted that optical character recognition is useful for scanning library documents. “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,” she 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.”
Historical Context: Libraries as Tech Educators
Libraries have long served as community hubs for technology education, from computer literacy classes in the 1990s to internet safety workshops in the 2000s. The “Avoiding AI” movement is a natural extension of this role, addressing a new kind of digital anxiety. In the past, librarians taught patrons how to resist aggressive marketing and privacy intrusions. Now they are tackling the challenge of AI’s pervasive presence.
This trend is not isolated. Across the United States, public libraries have seen increased demand for workshops on digital detox, privacy protection, and understanding algorithms. The popularity of “Avoiding AI” underscores a hunger for practical, non-corporate guidance on managing technology.
The workshops also tap into a broader cultural skepticism toward Big Tech. Polls show that a majority of Americans are concerned about the negative effects of AI on society, including job displacement, misinformation, and environmental costs. Data centers—which power AI models—consume vast amounts of electricity and water, contributing to local concerns about sustainability. Attendees like Johnny and Gabrielle reflect these worries.
Expanding the Movement
Bailey and Cyrus are not alone. Since Cyrus published her journal article, she has heard from librarians in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries. Some have adapted the workshop for different languages and cultural contexts. Bailey’s Philadelphia workshop has inspired similar events in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.
The format is straightforward: a mix of presentation and hands-on demonstration. Bailey uses a projector to show his own phone screen while guiding attendees through settings menus. The collaborative atmosphere encourages sharing of tips and personal experiences. “There's a sense of camaraderie,” Bailey said. “It felt really good to see how many people share this feeling.”
For now, the workshops are free and open to the public. Bailey and Cyrus both emphasize that they are not anti-technology; they are pro-choice. “I think it's important to see this as advancing digital literacy and helping people reclaim their autonomy,” Bailey reiterated.
As AI continues to permeate every corner of digital life, these librarians are offering a rare service: the knowledge and permission to say no.
Source: TechCrunch News