Librarians Host Viral 'Avoiding AI' Workshops to Help Users Opt Out

Librarians across the country are seeing an unprecedented surge in demand for workshops titled Avoiding AI, as patrons increasingly seek to reclaim control over their digital lives. These sessions, which guide participants through the process of disabling AI features on their devices, have become a viral phenomenon, signaling a growing public frustration with the forced integration of artificial intelligence into everyday technology.

A Grassroots Response to Forced Adoption

The movement began with Hannah Cyrus, a librarian at the Bangor Public Library in Maine. After noticing a steady stream of patrons asking how to turn off AI tools that were automatically summarizing emails or drafting messages, Cyrus developed a workshop to demystify the technology and provide instructions on opting out. The response was overwhelming; her first sessions required waitlists and livestreaming to accommodate up to 70 attendees, far exceeding the typical turnout for her standard computer literacy classes.
Charlie Bailey, a librarian in South Philadelphia, adopted the curriculum after being one of dozens of professionals to contact Cyrus. His own workshops have seen similar success, with social media posts about the events garnering thousands of likes and shares. For Bailey, the program is a matter of digital literacy, helping people navigate a tech landscape where AI is often embedded by default.

Reclaiming Digital Autonomy

During these hour-long sessions, librarians provide an overview of how consumer AI tools function before moving to step-by-step instructions on how to disable specific features on popular platforms and devices. The workshops have fostered a sense of camaraderie among attendees, who share their own tips for avoiding AI, such as using specific search strings to bypass AI-generated results on Google.
The motivation for attendees is varied. Some express concerns about the environmental impact of data centers, while others simply feel that AI tools are being imposed upon them without consent. However, participants are not necessarily rejecting all technological progress. Many acknowledge the utility of AI in specific contexts, such as medical breakthroughs or optical character recognition for digitizing library documents.
Ultimately, the Avoiding AI movement is less about a total rejection of technology and more about advocating for agency. As Cyrus notes, the forced adoption of these tools may be the tipping point for many users. By hosting these workshops, librarians are providing a space for people to push back against the outsized influence of tech companies and exercise their right to choose how they interact with the digital world.