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Jessamynjessamyn@glammr.us
Jul 8, 2026, 5:23 PM
RE: https://mastodonapp.uk/@taoish/116884161402249680
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.
Would appreciate links which give simple steps to do this for the most-used (Siri, Alexa, Gemini, Copilot, Firefox's AI nonsense &c.) so I can collate and synthesize. Thanks!
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Replies

Dorothea Salodsalo@digipres.club
Jul 8, 2026, 5:25 PM
@jessamyn IT'S HANNAH CYRUS! I am such a fan.
https://speakerdeck.com/dsalo/protecting-patrons-with-digital-vendors?slide=44
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Lauracanticanovae@mastodon.nl
Jul 8, 2026, 5:32 PM
@dsalo @jessamyn Me too! Just attended her webinar last week and -- all the ideas!
Also -- Extra excited about your Constitution Day program! 🤩
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Jessamynjessamyn@glammr.us
Jul 8, 2026, 5:39 PM
@canticanovae @dsalo Yes! I read her paper and dropped her a note about it. Excited to help spread this information.
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Dorothea Salodsalo@digipres.club
Jul 8, 2026, 5:44 PM
@jessamyn @canticanovae I emailed to ask if she'd be at PLA because I so wanted to meet her. Alas, no.
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Guy LeCharles Gonzalezglecharles@gardenstate.social
Jul 8, 2026, 5:31 PM
@jessamyn I liked LFP's AI flyers at the Radical Book Buzz. Looks like they're all available here under AI critical resources: https://libraryfreedom.org/resources/
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Jessamynjessamyn@glammr.us
Jul 8, 2026, 5:39 PM
@glecharles I like them conceptually but they're really busy and I may have to cull them down into simpler steps. I liked your bit in Jane's newsletter today!
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Guy LeCharles Gonzalezglecharles@gardenstate.social
Jul 8, 2026, 5:55 PM
@jessamyn Thanks!
And yes, the design is busier than it needs to be, but the intent is good. At least they're not AI designs! 😅
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13 barn owls in a trenchcoatHauntedOwlbear@eldritch.cafe
Jul 8, 2026, 5:39 PM
@jessamyn This wizard-based tool is great for stripping Copilot out of Windows 11. The instructions it provides are clear and it offers (and by default enables) rollback points in case anything goes wrong in the future.
https://github.com/zoicware/RemoveWindowsAI
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Jessamynjessamyn@glammr.us
Jul 8, 2026, 5:43 PM
@HauntedOwlbear That looks really cool and once I watched the YouTube video I actually understood how to use it.
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13 barn owls in a trenchcoatHauntedOwlbear@eldritch.cafe
Jul 8, 2026, 5:46 PM
@jessamyn It's been a decade since I last used Windows on actual hardware, to the point where my skills at it have genuinely atrophied from using only Linux for so long, and I didn't break anything when I used it on a new Windows 11 work laptop from a client!
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Aria <3 :blobcattrans:ariarhythmic@ohai.social
Jul 8, 2026, 7:03 PM
@jessamyn Librewolf is the one true big killswitch to Firefox's enshittification, make sure to mention that.
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Jessamynjessamyn@glammr.us
Jul 9, 2026, 12:24 AM
@ariarhythmic These are not people who can install their own software in general so while I will mention it (for sure! all the options!) I suspect it will not be an option for them.
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firebreathingduckfirebreathingduck@vivaldi.net
Jul 8, 2026, 7:32 PM
@jessamyn
DuckDuckGo search engine offers AI summaries by default 🤬 , but if you set up a custom search engine in your browser https://noai.duckduckgo.com?q=%s it won't use AI at all.
The Vivaldi web browser doesn't use AI, though I think the default search engine is Google.
Good luck.
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Robertrobotnextdoor@fosstodon.org
Jul 10, 2026, 1:01 AM
@firebreathingduck @jessamyn I installed Vivaldi on my Win11 machine at work just yesterday. Happy to report the default SE was StartPage.
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fnordfnrd@toots.nu
Jul 8, 2026, 8:13 PM
@jessamyn this is Mozilla's own: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-ai-controls
LibGuide about removing AI from search: https://libguides.brown.edu/english/AI#s-lg-box-35702950
Also uBlock has a blocklist for AI widgets (Chrome is currently blocking uBlock for less experienced users) but no Libguide for that sadly.
Good luck.
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Roger MooreVATVSLPR@c.im
Jul 8, 2026, 9:28 PM
@jessamyn
I'm actually more worried about the humans around me pushing me to use AI than I am about the intrusive pushes to use AI in a lot of software. It's way easier to click "No" on a box in the software, even if I have to do it every time, than to resist my boss saying "just run it through AI to polish up the writing" all the time. I like to think I can write better than the AI can, and I'd rather not have my carefully chosen wording degraded into generic AI speak.
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Don Martidmarti@federate.social
Jul 8, 2026, 11:12 PM
@jessamyn You can almost get old-school Google back without the "AI" slop—works best on Firefox but some improvement on other browsers https://blog.zgp.org/fix-google-search/
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AnneTheWriterAnneTheWriter1@universeodon.com
Jul 8, 2026, 11:16 PM
@jessamyn
The only trick I know for getting rid of #AI (where it tends to show up uninvited) is when typing in a search prompt, you can put a hyphen-AI either before it or after it. For example:
-ai names of actors who played Robin Hood
OR
names of actors who played Robin Hood -ai
This not only gets rid of the annoying #AIsummary (which often contains hallucinations and irrelevant information), but it also tends to give better search results, in my experience.
#ArtificialIntelligence #HowToGoogle #BooleanOperators #AIsummaries #Googling #SearchTricks #AvoidingAI
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Ela - TechnicalOttertechnicalotter@glammr.us
Jul 8, 2026, 11:29 PM
@jessamyn for macOS and iOS https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-turn-off-apple-intelligence/
I can provide a screenshot of where it is in systemprefs on both macos Sequoia and Tahoe, in the off and not set up states.
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Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐gcvsa@mstdn.plus
Jul 8, 2026, 11:51 PM
@jessamyn Disabling Copilot is not particularly simple, as it involves editing the registry, and even that doesn't totally remove menu items from some apps. It's also important to understand that if your PC isn't new enough to have a neural processor, the worst features don't function, anyway. This is true even for current models of PCs. I have a 2025 Dell Inspiron 5440 with an Intel Core 7 150U CPU, which does not have a neural processing unit and is therefore not Copilot+ PC certified.
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Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐gcvsa@mstdn.plus
Jul 8, 2026, 11:54 PM
@jessamyn The best way to get rid of Copilot is to install Linux, and I also know how to remap the Copilot key on newer keyboards back to being my Right Alt key, which is important as its the default position of the Compose key in Linux.
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Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐gcvsa@mstdn.plus
Jul 8, 2026, 11:54 PM
@jessamyn I'd love to be kept abreast of developments, so I can share them at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro.
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Jessamynjessamyn@glammr.us
Jul 9, 2026, 12:27 AM
@gcvsa Yeah this is generally not a Linux crowd but I will forward it as an option. If there is a Linux distro that is easy/possible to install on old Macs (with instructions) that is what I am looking for, personally.
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Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐gcvsa@mstdn.plus
Jul 9, 2026, 12:45 AM
@jessamyn i am typing this on a 2012 MacBook Pro running Linux Mint Debian Edition 7. It runs flawlessly, no weird tricks to the install.
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fedward :omya:fedward@distraction.party
Jul 9, 2026, 3:06 AM
@jessamyn @gcvsa I’m liking @elementary on my 2015 MacBook Pro. I’ve had a few adaptation issues, but the trackpad behavior and gestures are close enough to what I’m used to that it doesn’t feel as foreign as, say, Linux Mint.
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Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐gcvsa@mstdn.plus
Jul 9, 2026, 9:59 AM
@fedward @jessamyn @elementary I haven't used elementary since 0.4, and at that time, it was OK, but maybe still a little rough around the edges. I'm sure it's improved since then.
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garygary_alderson@infosec.exchange
Jul 9, 2026, 12:14 AM
@jessamyn they use ai all the time they just don't know it yet #ai flattening
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Jessamynjessamyn@glammr.us
Jul 9, 2026, 12:28 AM
@gary_alderson I'm sure that's true but my earnest question remains.
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Betwixt & Betweenblbc@universeodon.com
Jul 9, 2026, 2:21 AM
@jessamyn It’s really getting bad; I searched for something Monday that would’ve come right up a year ago, but instead I got stuck with a huge AI explanation that didn’t have diddly squat to do with the resource I was looking for—and I was using DuckDuckGo.
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Eivindeivind@mastodon.fjerland.no
Jul 9, 2026, 6:10 AM
@jessamyn You, madam, are a hero. And long live librarians!
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Frank Heijkampalterelefant@mastodontech.de
Jul 9, 2026, 7:39 AM
@jessamyn
To gather knowledge and develop skills. This is the main objective to visit a library. 'instant' answers produced by an #LLM provides neither of those.
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Raven Onthillravenonthill@mastodon.social
Jul 9, 2026, 10:14 AM
@jessamyn one suggestion is not to use Chrome, which is just loaded with "AI" sea lions. But the thing is just everywhere; I don't think that's a realistic suggestion unfortunately.
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