Neha is a member of Stop Gen AI who does machine learning research, a much more credible and much less harmful application of AI. Here are their recommendations:
“I also wanted to share alternatives I’ve used/know of to get Big Tech and Gen AI out of my life (as much as possible):
I personally use everything on this list except Ghost and Fairphone.
System76, my personal laptop is from system76 which provides laptops with Linux: https://system76.com/
VSCodium, an alternative to Visual Studio Code (owned by Microsoft): https://vscodium.com/
LibreOffice, alternative to the Microsoft Office Suite: https://www.libreoffice.org/
Pixelfed, Instagram alternative free of Meta, algorithms, and AI: https://pixelfed.org/
LibreWolf, privacy friendly internet browser based on Firefox (sometimes is too restrictive and I default back to regular Firefox): https://librewolf.net/
HERE WeGo Maps, alternative to Google Maps and Apple Maps based in the Netherlands(I do have to fall back in some cases but has replaced most navigation): https://www.here.com/products/wego
The StoryGraph, Goodreads (owned by Amazon) alternative based in the UK: https://www.thestorygraph.com/
Mango Languages (available through many libraries), Duolingo alternative: https://mangolanguages.com/
DuckDuckGo, Google search engine alternative. I haven’t used Google on my personal computer in years: https://duckduckgo.com/
Bookshop.org, Alternative to Amazon for buying books and supporting local bookstores in the process: https://bookshop.org/
Ghost, alternative newsletter and website platform that’s a nonprofit: https://ghost.org/
Fairphone, ethically made smartphones, currently in EU. Doesn’t serve North America yet: https://shop.fairphone.com/about-us
Mailfence, when Gmail alerted me that I needed to pay for more storage I refused and chose a privacy friendly email service based in Belgium: https://mailfence.com/
Many other international companies are out there, like 1984 for example!
Signal, messaging app alternative and non-profit: https://signal.org/“
And here are recommendations from Stop Gen AI founder Kim Crawley:
“Every time Windows 11 would update in 2024, I would have to go to the Windows Registry to disable Microsoft Copilot. I eventually gave up on removing Cpilot and decided to replace Windows on my gaming PC with Kubuntu. My hesitation to leave Windows was because of my love of PC gaming. Thankfully, I found 99% of my Steam of Windows game library is also easily playable in Steam for Linux. Steam for Linux is well supported in Steam OS on Steam Deck, meanwhile on PC, the best support for Steam for Linux is in Debian-based Linux distributions such as Linux Mint, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu. Avoid Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, apparently their owner IBM is pushing Gen AI bullshit into those Linux distributions.
Debian-based Linux distributions and their pages on DistroWatch.org:
Debian https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=debian
Linux Mint: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint
Zorin OS: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=zorin
Pop!_OS: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=popos
Lubuntu: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lubuntu
Kubuntu: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=kubuntu
Ubuntu: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=ubuntu
How to install Steam for Linux: https://www.howtogeek.com/753511/how-to-download-and-install-steam-on-linux/
How to get Windows games to run in Linux through Steam:
https://www.howtogeek.com/738967/how-to-use-steams-proton-to-play-windows-games-on-linux
https://itsfoss.com/steam-play
Google kept trying to force Google Gemini Gen AI onto my Android phone through various Android 15 updates. So I got rid of vanilla Android on my phone and replaced it with GrapheneOS, a fork of Android with none of the most evil shit Google does. It’s easy to install, but keep in mind GrapheneOS is only supported on Pixel devices from Pixel 6 to Pixel 9:
https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-support
https://grapheneos.org/features
https://grapheneos.org/install
Stop using the Microsoft Office suite (Office 365) and Google Docs. Microsoft and Google have been shoving Gen AI into it. Use the LibreOffice suite on your local computer (not SaaS Software-as-a-Service). It includes Writer (DOC and DOCX), Calc (XLS and XLSX), Impress (PPT and PPTX) and more. The majority of Linux distros, including the ones I mentioned here, come with LibreOffice pre-installed. Alternatively, you may install it directly: https://www.libreoffice.org/
There are a wide array of Adobe software applications that both professional and amateur digital artists, filmmakers, YouTubers, videographers, animators, podcasters, and other medium creators use. But Adobe has been shoving Gen AI bullshit all throughout their Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Publisher, and others). Here’s a list of alternatives for Adobe’s most used applications: https://graphicers.com/best-adobe-alternatives-2025/
Get rid of Google Search, which is now completely destroyed by Gen AI.
As Neha said, DuckDuckGo is a good alternative. But you must go to DuckDuckGo’s settings to disable their godawful “Duck.AI.”
How to disable Duck.AI: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/duckai/how-to-hide-ai-chat
How to make DuckDuckGo your default search engine on mobile and desktop: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/search?q=default%20search
Mojeek is a search engine that has taken a strong stance against Gen AI. Unfortunately I have been using DuckDuckGo more often because Mojeek’s results haven’t been as good. But you can check it out…
https://blog.mojeek.com/2023/05/generative-ai-threatens-diversity-and-hyperlinks.html
Sear XNG is like the Mastodon of search engines. You can deploy your own Sear XNG instance if you’re a nerd, or you may use their first party instance here: https://searx.bndkt.io/
Web browsers!
You got to stop using vanilla Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and Apple Safari because Gen AI is being pushed into these browsers. Fortunately there are Firefox and Chromium (Chrome) forks that are safely Gen AI-free.
Tor Browser can be used for the clearweb as well as the “darkweb”, both desktop and mobile: https://www.torproject.org/download/
LibreWolf works well on desktop: https://librewolf.net/
So does Waterfox (I mean, it’s desktop only for now): https://www.waterfox.net/
Vanadium is the Chromium fork that comes with GrapheneOS. So it’s exclusive to GrapheneOS, and therefore a mobile only browser: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium
Vivaldi runs great on both desktop and mobile and will sync webpages and bookmarks between your different desktop and mobile endpoints: https://vivaldi.com/download/
As far as social media is concerned, for best Gen AI avoidance you will need to move away from Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), Twitter/X, Reddit, and LinkedIn. Unfortunately I have to use LinkedIn professionally. But all of my personal social media use is through Bluesky and Mastodon.
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/
Mastodon: https://joinmastodon.org/
Webmail/email is another possibly nasty vector for Gen AI. I recommend moving away from Gmail (Google), Hotmail (Microsoft), and ProtonMail. (Yes, Proton is pushing Gen AI! https://proton.me/blog/proton-scribe-writing-assistant)
Instead, get your webmail/email from us at Stop Gen AI! Your email address can be <choose_your_username>@stopgenai.com, we can provide you with both webmail and IMAP to set up in your email client of choice. We will provide you with unlimited support, and the email servers are hosted by 1984.hosting in Iceland, safely away from American control.
Your email address will show the world you oppose Gen AI.
Reserve your stopgenai.com webmail by donating $10 USD or more to https://paypal.me/StopGenAI and then email Kim Crawley (from any email address) at kim.crawley@stopgenai.com with your PayPal account name and your request for a stopgenai.com email address.”