‘How to Avoid AI’ Workshops from American Libraries are Trending

A group of librarians in various US states are teaching ‘How to Avoid AI’ classes. The first class, taught by Charlie Bailey from South Philadelphia, was standing room only. An Instagram post about the event received 2,000 likes and 220 shares (which is about a hundred times the usual level). It was developed by Hannah Sirus from Maine. Her initial classes had about 70 participants (30 in person and 40 on Zoom), and she published a paper about the idea in a professional publication.

These classes teach people about how language models operate, how to turn off Apple Intelligence and the default Google Gemini, and offer other tips and advice. For example, one participant shared a technique for removing all AI blocks from Google search results by adding &udm=14 to the end of the URL. According to Sirus, she’s been getting increasing numbers of requests for information about ‘how to turn all of this off’, so she decided to create the class.

The classes are seen as part of digital literacy efforts, not as an anti-technology movement. Librarians want to provide options, not to scare people away from AI. As Bailey pointed out, it’s essential to help people navigate situations where they feel pressured to use AI because of how products are designed. This idea has caught on among other libraries and is spreading throughout the US.