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.

[palleas@mastodon.social]

@jessamyn this just popped on my timeline, so thank you for taking the time to put this together
Does DuckDuckGo's no-ai page merit a mention? https://noai.duckduckgo.com/

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@Palleas Yes it does, thank you!

[sourcejedi@mastodon.social]

@jessamyn
MS Edge?

Last time Ars updated, you had to turn off both Copilot, and the then-revealed sidebar button, in order to get the Edge main menu button to appear in the corner, like it should do.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/what-i-do-to-clean-up-a-clean-install-of-windows-11-23h2-and-edge/

I don't remember having to turn off the sidebar last week though, only Copilot.

[cynblogger@sfba.social]

@jessamyn
I can’t help but sense irony in your using Google docs for distribution…

[rrb@infosec.exchange]

@jessamyn @Palleas you can set that to be default search engine

[rrb@infosec.exchange]

@cynblogger @jessamyn pastebin?

[enno@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@jessamyn Firefox finally has their AI crud behind a single off switch now, that should get a mention.

[antony@mastodon.ie]

@jessamyn The irony of using a Google doc, a service loaded with AI, to list how to remove AI is in many ways genius - it's teaching AI the answer when folk ask how to strip it away

[zer0unplanned@friendica.rogueproject.org]

@ravenonthill @jessamyn You use Android phone then there is no escape. Whatever you do.
If it's root-able get Graphene or another OS if not just take it in as you can not avoid it at all with all your tricks etc.
On PC I'm lucky I use an old Intell OSX, as for Windows users...

[unchartedworlds@scicomm.xyz]

@jessamyn

Thank you for this!

[richlv@mastodon.social]

@jessamyn BTW, Mastodon shows "Post unavailable" - just in case something was supposed to be quoted here.

[murtaugh@mastodon.social]

@jessamyn this is a tangent if you'll forgive, but: would it be useful to have a short link service solely dedicated to instructional content? Like (fake dream URL as example) how.to/remove-ai

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@murtaugh I love that as an idea.

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@richlv Yeah that's a weird Mastodon propagation thing I think. The post I quote-posted is publicly available bet maybe there's some "no quote posting" setting he has on. If you can follow this link that's the original thing.

https://mastodonapp.uk/@taoish/116884161402249680

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@antony Google is loaded with AI, much of which is turn-offable and mine is all turned off. It does allow for good collaboration. Once this doc feels more "final form-ish" I will self host somewhere with no AI. The irony is not lost on me, but realistically people are using what they use, they just want the AI in it to be less-intrusive.

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@enno Yep, it's in there.

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@rrb @cynblogger Yep was looking for something with maximum collaboration options and then I will probably self-host when I've got it more into its final form.

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@sendai I've got a place I can self-host once its in its final form, this was just the easiest "let's get collaborating" option.

[jessamyn@glammr.us]

@sendai @debcha That's a great tool that I did not know about. Added.

[antony@mastodon.ie]

@jessamyn It raises an interesting question though, if you turn AI off, but I have it enabled, what does Google do? What does it do with hilarious anonymous users? I still love the idea that it could feed back into the machine to teach it how to disable itself. On that note, if I think of anything not already there I'll add it