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How to disable or avoid intrusive AI
[_Put on your own oxygen mask first! Image from San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives_]
One of the biggest questions I get at Drop-In Time at the library (besides “what is taking up all my cloud storage?”) is how to disable or avoid intrusive AI that shows up where people don’t want it. I’m going to make a handout that explains how to do some of the basic AI-removal or AI-avoidance things. This is a guide for people who would like less intrusive AI in their tech environment. Maybe you like AI and find it useful? That’s fine, this document is probably not for you. Additions/edits welcome. Leave a comment or drop me an email.
## Google Workspace (Gmail, Google Docs &c)
In Gmail, click the Settings (gear) icon, and then select **See all settings**. On the **General** tab, scroll down to **Google Workspace smart features**. Click **Manage Workspace smart feature settings** and toggle off two options: **Smart features in Google Workspace** and **Smart features in other Google products**. Uncheck the box next to **Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet** on the same tab.
## Apple Intelligence & Siri
Only exists on iPhone 16 and newer Macs and iPads Open **Settings** (iPhone or iPad) or **System Settings** (Mac) and choose**Apple Intelligence & Siri**. Then turn off the **Apple Intelligence** option. Confirm your choice in the dialog that appears by tapping **Turn Off Apple Intelligence**. More details on how to turn off specific parts of Apple Intelligence and leave others alone.
## Copilot/Windows 11
Copilot exists both as an embedded AI agent in Office 365 and also built into the Windows 11 operating system. Right-click the **Copilot** entry in the **Start** menu and select **Uninstall**. If that option isn’t there, head over to your installed apps list (**Start – Settings – Apps**) and uninstall Copilot from there.
In certain builds of Windows 11, Copilot is stuck into the OS, so a simple uninstall might not work. In that case, you can toggle it off via the settings: **Start – Settings – Personalization – Taskbar** –**turn off Copilot** **File Explorer** has some AI built into it which can be turn-onable accidentally. To remove. **Start – Settings – Privacy & Security – Click to Do.**
**Notepad** has its own special Copilot, so you’ll need to disable AI there separately. Open the Notepad settings, find the **AI features** section (or a sparkly icon near a **Writing Tools** section), and toggle Copilot off.
**Office 365/Outlook** There is a separate **Enable Copilot** checkbox in each app and the checkbox only applies to that app on that device. Read more about how to turn it off. If you don’t have that option, you can change your privacy settings to disable Copilot.
“**Text and image generation** ” are turned on by default, affecting Notepad, Photos, Snipping Tool, and Xbox. Turn this off. It is complicated, though not impossible, to remove Copilot from your Windows computer entirely. Here is a link that gets into the details. If you feel comfortable installing software O&O ShutUp 10 is one way to do that, Win11DeBloat is another.
## Browser-embedded AI
### Chrome/AI Nano
Type **chrome://flags** into the address bar and hit **Enter**. You’ll see a list of system flags and a search bar; type “**AI** ” into that search bar. This will filter the massive list down to about a dozen AI features (and a few other cases where those letters just happen to be in a word). The second search term you’ll need in this window is “**Gemini** ” set them all to “disabled”
### Edge
Similar to Chrome: type **edge://flags** into the Edge address bar, hit **Enter** , then type “**AI** ” or “**Copilot** ” into the search box.
Click **Appearance** in the left-hand Settings sidebar, and scroll down to **Copilot and sidebar**
Turn the sidebar **off** , and turn off the “**Personalize my top sites in customize sidebar** ” and “**Allow sidebar apps to show notifications** ” toggles.
Click**Copilot** under **App specific settings**. Turn off “**Show Copilot button on the toolbar**.” Then, back in the **Copilot and sidebar** settings, turn off the **“Show sidebar button”** toggle that has just appeared.
Click **Languages** in the left-hand navigation. Disable **“Use Copilot for writing on the web.”**
### Firefox
The latest Firefox (148 and later) has a feature to block all AI enhancements. So update, if you can, go to **Settings** and look for **AI Controls**. Turn **Block AI Enhancements** on (or select more granularly from the list)
Using Firefox, this extension removes a lot of the AI junk if you use Google as your default search engine.
* * * More details on removing AI slop from search results in different browsers.
* Here is a link for how to do this in DuckDuckGo and Bing.
* TenBlueLinks gives you some simple steps to do this in Chrome/Firefox
### DuckDuckGo
DDG is both a browser and a search engine. They have a no-AI version you can get to by going to https://noai.duckduckgo.com/ You can also change your default search engine to this and stop using Google, here are steps for every browser. If you want to go all out and get the DDG browser, they also have instructions on how to do that.
## WhatsApp
AI lives in here in a few places. Suggested Replies, go to **Settings – Chats – Suggestions & smart replies** and toggle off **Suggested replies**. **AI Sticker suggestions** can be shut off in that same menu. For AI message summaries, those are managed in a different location: **Settings – Notifications – AI message summaries**.
## Android/Gemini
Depending on your phone’s manufacturer, you may be able to uninstall the Gemini app entirely. If not, there are some application-specific ways you can turn off some of its features
### Messages
Tap **your account** picture, select **Messages settings** , then **Gemini in Messages** , and toggle the assistant off.
### Other features in other apps
Tap your profile icon, select **Gemini Apps activity** , and then choose **Turn off** or **Turn off and delete activity**. Next, tap the profile icon again and go to the **Connected Apps** setting (check the **Personal Intelligence** setting). Disable all the apps where you don’t want Gemini.
### Power Button
If Gemini has “taken over” your power button, you can turn this off. Go to **Settings,** then **System** , then **Gestures** and change the settings under **Press & Hold Power Button**
## Zoom
Sign in at Zoom.com. Scroll to **My Account** on the left and select **Settings**. Go to the **Zoom AI** tab on the right where you can disable everything. Note: new AI options get added and they default to “on” so check back. To the right of the **Zoom AI** tab click on **My Notes** and disable “Allow participants to transcribe meetings with My Notes”
## Other useful AI Removal/Detection links
* How to spot AI Hallucinations like a Reference Librarian (originally on Substack)
* Library Freedom Project has a lot of handouts about AI on their Resources page
Inspired by the librarians from Bangor
