Librarians launch viral 'Avoiding AI' workshops as public backlash grows
Librarians across the US are teaching people how to disable AI features on their devices, with workshops drawing unprecedented attendance.
Conversation activity · last 14 days peak 7/2h
Summary, timeline and people extracted by Claude from 230 items across 5 sources · 7h ago. Quotes are verbatim.
Librarians led by Hannah Cyrus in Maine and Charlie Bailey in Philadelphia have started hosting "Avoiding AI" workshops teaching people how to disable AI features on phones, computers, and other devices. The workshops have attracted far larger crowds than typical library programs, reflecting growing public frustration with AI tools being automatically integrated into consumer technology without explicit user consent.
- Librarians Hannah Cyrus and Charlie Bailey launched "Avoiding AI" workshops teaching people to disable AI features on consumer devices, responding to widespread public frustration.
- Cyrus' original Maine workshop drew about 70 attendees per session, and Bailey's Philadelphia workshop received over 2,000 likes on Instagram, with both requiring multiple sessions due to demand.
- The workshops frame AI opt-out literacy as a critical service, emphasizing that users should have autonomy over whether to adopt AI tools and that tech design often pressures adoption without consent.
- The viral success indicates substantial public appetite for practical guidance on disabling AI—suggesting a significant gap between tech companies' aggressive AI integration and user preferences.
How it unfolded
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Reaction Social media enthusiasm from librarians and public
Posts on Bluesky celebrate the workshops. Librarian adklibrarybear responds with enthusiasm, and other users praise the initiative as advancing digital literacy and personal autonomy.
“Hell yes we are. My people 🙏🫡🥰📚”
adklibrarybear.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗ -
Reaction Broader public validation of workshop concept
Multiple librarians from around the world contact Cyrus after her journal article, requesting workshop materials and guidance. This level of interest is unprecedented for Cyrus' prior work.
“This has never happened before with anything I've worked on. Nobody has ever been emailing me like, 'Can you give me your Intro to Computers slides?'”
Hannah Cyrus · Bluesky ↗ -
Analysis Librarians frame as digital literacy initiative
Bailey emphasizes that the workshop represents advancing digital literacy and helping people reclaim autonomy over their technology choices, especially given design pressures toward AI adoption.
“As a librarian, I think it's important to see this as advancing digital literacy and helping people reclaim their autonomy over whether they want to use AI tools.”
Charlie Bailey · Bluesky ↗ -
Event Hannah Cyrus publishes workshop methodology
Hannah Cyrus, a librarian in Maine at Bangor Public Library, published a journal article about developing an "Avoiding AI" workshop after receiving patron questions about turning off unwanted AI features.
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Event Cyrus' first workshop draws record attendance
Cyrus' first "Avoiding AI" workshop exceeded expectations, with 30 people registering and a waitlist forming. She expanded to Zoom livestream, reaching about 70 people per session across her first two workshops.
“More and more, I was getting questions about, 'How do I turn this [AI] stuff off? Why is it trying to write my emails for me?'”
Hannah Cyrus · Bluesky ↗ -
Event Charlie Bailey launches Philadelphia workshop
Librarian Charlie Bailey in South Philadelphia launches his own version of the workshop, teaching people to disable Apple Intelligence and Gemini. The library's Instagram post gets over 2,000 likes and 220 shares, prompting Bailey to schedule a second session.
“I was inspired by the feeling of people's frustration with AI tools being kind of forced onto them, and feeling like AI tools we didn't ask for are suddenly everywhere in our lives.”
Charlie Bailey · Bluesky ↗
What people are saying verbatim
“More and more, I was getting questions about, 'How do I turn this [AI] stuff off? Why is it trying to write my emails for me? Why is it trying to summarize my one-sentence email that I can easily read?'”
Hannah Cyrus, Librarian, Bangor Public Library · TechCrunch ↗ · Jul 24
“I was inspired by the feeling of people's frustration with AI tools being kind of forced onto them, and feeling like AI tools we didn't ask for are suddenly everywhere in our lives.”
Charlie Bailey, Librarian, South Philadelphia · TechCrunch ↗ · Jul 24
“As a librarian, I think it's important to see this as advancing digital literacy and helping people reclaim their autonomy over whether they want to use AI tools.”
Charlie Bailey, Librarian, South Philadelphia · TechCrunch ↗ · Jul 24
“This has never happened before with anything I've worked on. Nobody has ever been emailing me like, 'Can you give me your Intro to Computers slides?'”
Hannah Cyrus, Librarian, Bangor Public Library · TechCrunch ↗ · Jul 24
“Hell yes we are. My people 🙏🫡🥰📚”
adklibrarybear.bsky.social, Librarian (Bluesky commenter) · Bluesky ↗ · Jul 26
“As an information professional, it feels good to see people skeptical of AI.”
Charlie Bailey, Librarian, South Philadelphia · TechCrunch ↗ · Jul 24
“It's important, especially when it can be so difficult not to use them, and when the design seems to force adoption.”
Charlie Bailey, Librarian, South Philadelphia · TechCrunch ↗ · Jul 24
Voices from the web unedited
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Lindsay Deibler-Wallace, assistant head of Upper School, took no action to protect them after telling parents that “boys will be boys.”
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“As a librarian, I think it’s important to see this as advancing digital literacy and helping people reclaim their autonomy over whether they want to use AI tools."
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"Librarians are hosting viral ‘Avoiding AI’ workshops for people who are fed up with Big Tech" THAT'S what I'm talking about! #AiIsTheProblem #TechLiteracy
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What ever happened to free speech ? A US citizen when asked to turn over his phone at a US airport by customs agents who then demanded access. He gave them a code that scrubbed all data from the phone. He's now being charged with a felony.
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Similar to the lengths women take to make sure their drinks aren't spiked, there's already an app to notify you when someone around you is wearing the glasses. It's free and open source. It's called Nearby Glasses:
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Court documents reveal AI company Anthropic spent millions training Claude by cutting the bindings of millions of print books, scanning them into digital files, and discarding the physical copies. These details emerged from a recent copyright ruling on fair use.
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Well here's a fucking nightmare. An innocent guy went to prison for a year and a half for being a child predator because a subpoena misspelled a different guy's username.
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คิดว่าเรื่องนี้น่าสนใจ และคนนอกวงการเทคน่าจะมีอีกมากที่ไม่รู้ว่าจะปิดฟีเจอร์ AI บางอย่างยังไงบนเครื่องมือของตัวเอง (เช่น บนมือถือ ในอีเมล etc.) เป็นเวิร์คชอปเรียบง่ายที่ไอเดียดี และมีประโยชน์มากกว่าที่คิด
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holy *crap* "One missing underscore in a Skyrim-themed username put an innocent Nova Scotia man in prison for 18 months" full story here:
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The federal officers who thought this shit was cute should be on trial for conspiracy against rights because this is far more egregious than any of the headlines suggest.