How to disable or avoid intrusive AI
A practical guide for people who want less AI in their tech environment. Covers disabling AI features in Adobe, Android/Gemini, Apple Intelligence, browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, DuckDuckGo), Google Workspace, Slack, WhatsApp, Windows 11/Copilot, Yahoo Mail, and Zoom. Includes links to further resources and tools for removing AI from your digital life.
Put on your own oxygen mask first!
- dinkleberg
I recently discovered that you need to have Siri enabled for Apple CarPlay. I expect we're going to see a lot of this where when you disable the AI functionality the devs won't have put in fallback states and you'll be effectively locked out. With CarPlay for instance there is no reason that I shouldn't be able to listen to my music or use the map without Siri. But things like responding to texts does rely on Siri, so just gate that piece. It is rather unfortunate.
- VCFundedGenYer
The article missed a few obvious ones:
LibreWolf and Waterfox rip out the AI features with prejudice. I don't know anyone who uses Zen or Helium (and haven't heard of the latter).
If you have an iPhone 14 or older, you're safe from any AI features and have legacy Siri.
LibreOffice instead of Office
Linux instead of Windows (and I will not be entertaining "but end users won't do that" - because that is false. Linux market share is growing year over year)
Codeberg instead of GitHub
VSCodium instead of VSCode
- rad-b
Such a cool guide to such a bizarre problem we live in…
Companies forcing features that nobody wants, but that are also expensive to operate and cost real money to run? Market can definitely stay irrational for long.
- kennywinker
Switch to linux, that's what I did.
Literally. The endless waves of companies forcing LLMs down our throats and into our workflows drove me off the mac. And windows is worse, which leaves linux.
- jessamyn
Hello -- this is mine! There's a short URL: https://NoToAI.org If people have suggestions I'll add them.
- happosai
Unfortunately doesn't tell me how make Rovo go away.
- astudentinearth
Much needed list. On the browser front, I recommend giving a try to alternatives like Zen or Helium, which are Firefox and Chromium based respectively.
For AI buttons that specifically bug you, content blockers like uBlock Origin are especially helpful to zap them out of the page.
- dceddia
Recently bothered by the Amazon Alexa for Shopping thing that slides out constantly and can’t be turned off, I found this Chrome extension.
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/adios-alexa-for-sho...