Librarians are holding sold-out 'Avoiding AI' workshops to help people disable Apple Intelligence, Gemini, and other forced AI features.
Librarians Host 'Avoiding AI' Workshops Amid Tech Fatigue
The Unlikely Frontline of AI Resistance The children's rug at a South Philadelphia library features cheerful alphabet illustrations—M for moon, Z for zebra. But on a recent evening, the two dozen adults seated in these pint-sized chairs weren't learning their ABCs. They were learning how to disable Apple Intelligence and Google's Gemini, step by step, on their own devices. Charlie Bailey, the librarian leading the session, calls the program "Avoiding AI." It's part workshop, part digital literacy class, and increasingly, part community organizing. The response has been overwhelming enough that Bailey scheduled a second session after the first filled up instantly. "We didn't ask for AI tools, but suddenly they're everywhere in our lives," Bailey told TechCrunch. "I was inspired by people's frustration with these features being forced onto them." The concept originated with Hannah Cyrus, a librarian in Bangor, Maine, who developed he…
