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Library 'Avoiding AI' workshops are filling to capacity as Americans push back on default-enabled features

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

Librarians in Maine and Philadelphia report unprecedented demand for sessions teaching how to disable Apple Intelligence, Google Gemini Nano, and other AI features that recent OS updates switched on by default.

Library 'Avoiding AI' workshops are filling to capacity as Americans push back on default-enabled features

A library workshop teaching people to disable Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini Nano went so viral that the Maine librarian who created the format has fielded emails from dozens of colleagues around the world asking for her slides. Her standard digital-literacy classes typically draw about a dozen patrons. The "Avoiding AI" sessions draw 70.

What

Hannah Cyrus, a librarian at the Bangor Public Library in Maine, developed the first documented "Avoiding AI" workshop after patron questions about unwanted AI started piling up. "How do I turn this stuff off? Why is it trying to write my emails for me?" she told TechCrunch. She published a journal article about the format in late June 2026, and the response was unlike anything in her career. "This has never happened before with anything I've worked on," she told TechCrunch. Her first two workshops each drew about 70 attendees through in-person registration and a Zoom livestream. She had to cut off sign-ups at 30 in-person seats and open a waitlist for the rest.

Charlie Bailey, a librarian in South Philadelphia, adapted the format after reading Cyrus's article. His hour-long sessions walk attendees through step-by-step instructions to disable Apple Intelligence on iPhones and Macs, turn off Gemini Nano on Android, and strip AI overlays from other apps. Attendance far exceeded the registration cap. The library's Instagram post announcing the event collected over 2,000 likes and 220 shares, per TechCrunch, while a typical library post gets a few dozen. A second session was scheduled to absorb the overflow.

During Bailey's session, one attendee shared a tip that circulated quickly: appending "&udm=14" to any Google Search URL hides AI-generated results. Bailey wrote the string on a whiteboard alongside the room's Wi-Fi password.

Why it matters

The workshops document something that had so far existed mainly as social media commentary: organized, community-scale consumer pushback against ambient AI defaults. The specific grievance is consent, not AI itself. Attendees are not opposed to AI as a technology. They object to features that appeared on devices they already owned, switched on without their knowledge.

Cyrus framed it plainly: "The forced adoption of AI on people's devices might be the straw that's breaking the camel's back."

For product teams at Apple and Google, this pattern carries a practical signal. Consumer-resistance movements that reach mainstream library programming tend to draw legislative attention. Apple already delayed Apple Intelligence availability in Europe after regulators raised concerns about default-enabled AI features. A visible, growing U.S. movement could accelerate state-level privacy bills that require opt-in consent for on-device AI. The library workshop format is also self-documenting: librarians are publishing curricula, sharing materials, and tracking demand. That paper trail is exactly the kind of organized evidence policymakers reference.

What to watch next

Watch for any public response from Apple or Google on default AI feature settings. If the workshop model spreads internationally, as Cyrus's inbound email volume suggests it may, it will become harder for either company to frame consumer resistance as a niche or temporary phenomenon. The next signal to track: whether a U.S. legislative hearing on AI defaults cites this movement by name.

Sources