“Everyone’s glued to their phones at my program!” quips Charlie Bailey, a librarian based in South Philadelphia. He has just requested his audience to bring out their phones so he can guide them through the procedure of disabling Apple Intelligence and Gemini.

Bailey stands at the front of a library classroom designed for kids—the centerpiece is the colorful rug beneath his feet, reminding us that M represents “moon” and Z signifies “zebra.” However, the roughly 20 adults present are not here to learn the alphabet. They are attending a workshop titled Avoiding AI, which in this situation does not imply “apple” and “igloo.”

“I was motivated by the sense of frustration people have with AI tools being somewhat imposed on them, feeling like AI tools we never requested are suddenly prevalent in our lives,” Bailey shared with TechCrunch.

Bailey begins the hour-long workshop with a summary of how AI chatbots and other consumer AI tools function, discussing why individuals might choose to employ these products and why some may opt out. He then goes through the most popular tech platforms and devices, providing step-by-step guidance on the projector for disabling specific features.

“As a librarian, I believe it’s essential to view this as promoting digital literacy and assisting individuals in reclaiming their autonomy regarding the use of AI tools,” Bailey remarked. “It’s crucial, especially since abstaining from them can often be challenging, and the design seems to encourage their acceptance.”

Bailey got inspired to create the Avoiding AI workshop thanks to Hannah Cyrus, a librarian from Maine. He was one of many librarians worldwide who reached out to Cyrus after she released a journal article detailing her own workshop development.

“This has never happened before with anything I’ve been involved in,” Cyrus recalled to TechCrunch. “Nobody has ever been emailing me asking, ‘Can I have your Intro to Computers slides?’”

At the Bangor Public Library, patrons approach Cyrus when they require assistance with any tech-related issues.

“I was increasingly receiving inquiries like, ‘How do I disable this [AI] stuff? Why is it attempting to write my emails? Why does it try to summarize my brief email that I can read easily?’” Cyrus stated. “I decided that given the extensive media buzz surrounding AI products, it’d be a valuable chance to educate people about the fundamentals of what happens when using this technology, and then delve into how to disable it if they choose not to use it.”

Typically, Cyrus’ classes such as Intro to Computers attract around a dozen participants. However, the demand for her inaugural Avoiding AI workshop was so high that she had to limit registration to 30 individuals, open a waitlist, and stream the workshop on Zoom. Including the livestream, roughly 70 participants attended each of her first two workshops.

When Bailey followed in Cyrus’ footsteps to host a workshop in Philadelphia, the response was similarly extraordinary. The library’s Instagram announcement regarding the “Avoiding AI” event garnered over 2,000 likes and 220 shares, while most of the library’s posts typically receive only a few dozen likes. He arranged a second session because the first one exceeded capacity.

“As an information professional, it feels rewarding to witness a degree of skepticism towards AI,” Bailey remarked. “It was truly gratifying to observe how many individuals resonate with this sentiment.”

A feeling of camaraderie pervades the room filled with strangers during the workshop. When Bailey encourages attendees to share their own insights, one participant mentions that appending “&udm=14” to a Google Search can conceal AI results. Bailey jots down the character string on a whiteboard beside the login information for the teen Wi-Fi network.

“In today’s world, you have to go through extensive efforts to purchase a home, and in two years, there could be a data center beside yours,” states an attendee named Johnny.

“I keep having AI thrust upon me in my job, and each time I encounter it, I consider its environmental impact,” adds another attendee, Gabrielle. However, she doesn’t dismiss AI as a technology completely. “I’m not opposed to AI concerning medical advancements.”

Critics of AI understand that this technology encompasses much more than just chatbots and deepfake applications. Cyrus pointed out the practicality of optical character recognition for digitizing old documents at the library. Yet, for her and participants in her workshops, the anti-AI movement isn’t about a blanket rejection of technology; rather, it’s about advocating for increased control, autonomy, and freedom in how individuals engage with technology.

“I believe that the forced integration of AI into people’s devices could be the tipping point in some respects,” she added. “Awareness has been building for quite some time that these products and the companies behind them exert significant influence over us, and that we’re not utilizing these products in the ways we would prefer.”