Google Workspace (Gmail, Google Docs &c)
In Gmail, click the Settings (gear) icon, and then select See all settings. On the General tab, scroll down to Google Workspace smart features. Click Manage Workspace smart feature settings and toggle off two options: Smart features in Google Workspace and Smart features in other Google products. Uncheck the box next to Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet on the same tab.
Apple Intelligence & Siri
Only exists on iPhone 16 and newer Macs and iPads Open Settings (iPhone or iPad) or System Settings (Mac) and choose Apple Intelligence & Siri. Then turn off the Apple Intelligence option. Confirm your choice in the dialog that appears by tapping Turn Off Apple Intelligence. More details on how to turn off specific parts of Apple Intelligence and leave others alone.
Copilot/Windows 11
Copilot exists both as an embedded AI agent in Office 365 and also built into the Windows 11 operating system. Right-click the Copilot entry in the Start menu and select Uninstall. If that option isn’t there, head over to your installed apps list (Start – Settings – Apps) and uninstall Copilot from there.
In certain builds of Windows 11, Copilot is stuck into the OS, so a simple uninstall might not work. In that case, you can toggle it off via the settings: Start – Settings – Personalization – Taskbar – turn off Copilot File Explorer has some AI built into it which can be turn-onable accidentally. To remove. Start – Settings – Privacy & Security – Click to Do.
Notepad has its own special Copilot, so you’ll need to disable AI there separately. Open the Notepad settings, find the AI features section, and toggle Copilot off.
Office 365/Outlook There is a separate Enable Copilot checkbox in each app and the checkbox only applies to that app on that device. Read more about how to turn it off. If you don’t have that option, you can change your privacy settings to disable Copilot.
“Text and image generation” are turned on by default, affecting Notepad, Photos, Snipping Tool, and Xbox. Turn this off. It is complicated, though not impossible, to remove Copilot from your Windows computer entirely. Here is a link that gets into the details. If you feel comfortable installing software O&O ShutUp 10 is one way to do that.
Browser-embedded AI
Chrome/AI Nano
Type chrome://flags into the address bar and hit Enter. You’ll see a list of system flags and a search bar; type “AI” into that search bar. This will filter the massive list down to about a dozen AI features (and a few other cases where those letters just happen to be in a word). The second search term you’ll need in this window is “Gemini” set them all to “disabled”
Edge
Similar to Chrome: type edge://flags into the Edge address bar, hit Enter, then type “AI” or “Copilot” into the search box.
Click Appearance in the left-hand Settings sidebar, and scroll down to Copilot and sidebar
Turn the sidebar off, and turn off the “Personalize my top sites in customize sidebar” and “Allow sidebar apps to show notifications” toggles.
Click Copilot under App specific settings. Turn off “Show Copilot button on the toolbar.” Then, back in the Copilot and sidebar settings, turn off the “Show sidebar button” toggle that has just appeared.
Click Languages in the left-hand navigation. Disable “Use Copilot for writing on the web.”
Firefox
The latest Firefox (148 and later) has a feature to block all AI enhancements. So update, if you can, go to Settings and look for AI Controls. Turn Block AI Enhancements on (or select more granularly from the list)
Using Firefox, this extension removes a lot of the AI junk if you use Google as your default search engine.
DuckDuckGo
DDG is both a browser and a search engine. They have a no-AI version you can get to by going to https://noai.duckduckgo.com/ You can also change your default search engine to this and stop using Google, here are steps for every browser. If you want to go all out and get the DDG browser, they also have instructions on how to do that.
AI lives in here in a few places. Suggested Replies, go to Settings – Chats – Suggestions & smart replies and toggle off Suggested replies. AI Sticker suggestions can be shut off in that same menu. For AI message summaries, those are managed in a different location: Settings – Notifications – AI message summaries.
Android/Gemini
Depending on your phone’s manufacturer, you may be able to uninstall the Gemini app entirely. If not, there are some application-specific ways you can turn off some of its features
Messages
Tap your account picture, select Messages settings, then Gemini in Messages, and toggle the assistant off.
Other features in other apps
Tap your profile icon, select Gemini Apps activity, and then choose Turn off or Turn off and delete activity. Next, tap the profile icon again and go to the Connected Apps setting (check the Personal Intelligence setting). Disable all the apps where you don’t want Gemini.
Power Button
If Gemini has “taken over” your power button, you can turn this off. Go to Settings, then System, then Gestures and change the settings under Press & Hold Power Button
Zoom
Sign in at Zoom.com. Scroll to My Account on the left and select Settings. Go to the Zoom AI tab on the right where you can disable everything. Note: new AI options get added and they default to “on” so check back. To the right of the Zoom AI tab click on My Notes and disable “Allow participants to transcribe meetings with My Notes”
Other useful AI Removal/Detection links
- How to spot AI Hallucinations like a Reference Librarian
- Library Freedom Project has a lot of handouts about AI on their Resources page
- Inspired by the librarians from Bangor