// HACKER NEWS — CYBERSECURITY
How to disable or avoid intrusive AI
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. This is a guide for people who would like less intrusive AI in their tech environment. Maybe you like AI and find it useful? That’s fine, this document is probably not for you. Additions/edits welcome. Leave a comment or drop me an email. This page is available at the short URL https://NoToAI.org
Choose Disable new Acrobat Reader from the top menu (upper left), approve the dialog box and restart.
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
Tap your account picture, select Messages settings, then Gemini in Messages, and toggle the assistant off.
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.
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
If that doesn’t work you can try opening Settings, then searching for Power key
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.
Apple has a “learn from this application” feature which can be on even when Apple Intelligence is not on. To turn it off
For Mac: 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
For iOS: Settings – Apple Intelligence & Siri, scroll down to Apps, disable “Learn from this App”