How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

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.

nemomarx

Anyone know a good way to disable the ai summary on Google results? I know I should move over to kagi, but a ublock filter or something would still be nice.

josefritzishere

It's a sad state of affairs when companies are cramming this unwanted garbage into every app putting the onus on the user to block, disable, unsubscribe, delete, edit and mitigate. Nobody asked for AI slop.

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.

cryo32

The trick I use is to immediately go "fuck it I'm not using that product" I'm remarkably free of any intrusive AI.

mark_l_watson

Good list! Removing as much as possible all AI and surveillance features, then carefully adding back the very few I want is the way I roll.

happosai

Unfortunately doesn't tell me how make Rovo go away.

latexr

It would be nice to have this accessible in a repo, so we could track changes and submit corrections/new sources.

geekamongus

On Mac, you can use https://wairy.app (full disclosure, I made this) to check what you have given AI perms to do on your computer (knowingly or not), then revoke them.

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...

netsharc

Hah, the app to view the file format that simulates paper documents has AI now... (PDF/Adobe Reader).

soupspaces

So, like closing intrusive popups before and blockers, then.

matheusmoreira

Thanks for this. I love AI but I seriously hate the way these corporations keep forcing it into literally everything. I want to use AI on my own terms.

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.

jessamyn

Hello -- this is mine! There's a short URL: https://NoToAI.org If people have suggestions I'll add them.

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.

bookofjoe

Oh! The joy of driving a 2010 car with 60,000 miles on it knowing it's more likely than not I've never have to experience CarPlay/Siri/etc.

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

thih9

> go to System Settings – Apple Intelligence & Siri. Select About Siri, Dictation & Privacy… near the end of the page, turn off apps you don’t want Siri to learn from This is very user unfriendly.