Maine librarians teach patrons to disable AI features on phones, devices

The movement reflects a growing divide between technology marketing and user experience. While AI tools have long been pitched as labor-saving solutions, librarians and patrons report frustration: Brown notes that AI "doesn't necessarily make your job easier or give you time to do more things—it just forces you to use yet another product." Cyrus reports that in her experience, most library patrons are not finding AI helpful; they describe it as "auto-complete on steroids" and simply want to turn it off.

Librarians are positioning themselves as intermediaries between corporate technology interests and public welfare. Cyrus emphasizes that tools like Gmail and ChatGPT are "products created by giant corporations who want your information and want your attention," and points to environmental costs (AI's energy and water use), job displacement risk, and the privacy concern that people often share sensitive personal information—including mental health discussions—with platforms they perceive as human-like but that actually feed data to corporations. She sees ensuring information literacy as inseparable from helping patrons understand these trade-offs, comparing it to librarians' longstanding role opposing book banning.

The fact that Cyrus's introductory class drew more than 70 enrollees on its first offering, and that Brown and other librarians across Maine are now formalizing this service, suggests genuine patron demand for this type of guidance. Whether this localized movement expands beyond library systems or influences broader technology adoption practices remains to be seen.