Gen AI is an instrument from some of the wealthiest and most evil people on Earth to destroy livelihoods, destroy the planet, get people to stop thinking for themselves, encourage deaths by suicide, promote fascism, and destroy education.
Most Christmas shoppers this year have a lot less money to spend than in previous years. And that’s because capitalism is rapidly collapsing. Capitalism in crisis becomes fascism. (See Fascism is a Reaction to Capitalist Crisis in the Stage of Imperialism by Ken Kawashima.) Those who haven’t lost their livelihoods because their overlords incorrectly believe that Gen AI can replace them, have lost their livelihoods in various other ways as the wealthiest 0.000000001% on Earth suck the rest of the money out of us and hoard it for themselves.
But if you do have a few hundred bucks to spend on Christmas shopping this year, this year more than ever needs you to spend your money in ways that will help ordinary people to survive. It’s often said that there’s “no ethical consumption under capitalism,” and sometimes people have absolutely no choice but to help evil people and evil corporations to profit.
For instance, a lot of disabled people can only buy their essentials from Amazon because it’s the least expensive way for them to get what they need delivered to their home. A lot of people are physically disabled, and the shopping mall and the supermarket are dangerous because the plague spreading masses go there barefaced and exhale Covid into the air. (I’m not physically disabled and I still avoid brick and mortar retail because the maskless masses are disgusting.)
A lot of people live in food deserts. A lot of people have Walmart as their only accessible retailer. And so on.
But when you can make a less harmful shopping choice, you ought to.
You won’t rescue the world from the evils of capitalism, or even defeat Gen AI by shopping according to this guide. But think of the little bit of harm that we do when we order something from Amazon (I often have to buy groceries that way) and make horrifically exploited wage slaves urinate in plastic bottles while speeding down the highway to make all of their deliveries that day on time. When you buy something in this guide, you will instead benefit a struggling artist or book author, or support a good charity.
Each purchase made from this guide will do a tiny bit to make the world a better place, and even give an artist some much needed grocery shopping money.
I understand that people in the United States often find that they need to stick to buying domestic goods as much as possible to avoid Trump’s tariffs (which can often add hundreds of dollars to a $50 purchase!). And those of us outside of the United States need to avoid buying goods shipped from the United States, in case we have to deal with that in the other direction.
With that in mind, I will clearly label whether goods ship from the United States or from outside of the United States.
A brief diversion…
I am hosting a Covid safe (mandatory respirator wearing until a NAAT Covid test with a negative result is taken in my home) Christmas party in my home in Toronto. It’ll be on Christmas day. A lot of us plague avoiders have been abandoned by friends and family. A few people have agreed to join my Christmas celebration, but there is room for a few more people. See full information here: Christmas gathering for Covid-safe people without families in Toronto, 2025
I will be paying for PlusLife NAAT tests (which can be expensive!) and taxi fares for those who need the help, plus for food, drinks, and Secret Santa gifts. My income has been greatly harmed by Gen AI. So even if you are far away from Toronto and cannot come, I would greatly appreciate a donation to help me provide a Covid-safe Christmas for half a dozen people: https://ko-fi.com/kimatstopgenai
Thank you!
Okay, now onto the guide…
Let’s get into it!
Books
Buying these books will directly support writers, journalists, and scientists who are doing often thankless work* to help inform the world of the evils of Gen AI and Big Tech. Instead of buying from Amazon, I recommend using the Bookshop.org links provided. When you shop from Bookshop.org, an independent book retailer in the United States or the United Kingdom will profit from your purchase, instead of the Big Tech evil behemoth.
* There’s very little money in saying that Gen AI is bad, and tons of money in saying Gen AI is good. Those of us who tell the truth generally make a lot less money than those who act as marketing for Silicon Valley. I used to write marketing material for cybersecurity services vendors, you know!
While in Bookshop.org, in the upper right corner of your screen you can choose US or UK. I recommend choosing US if you’re in the US, and UK if you’re outside of the US. Then you ca be sure to avoid Trump’s tariffs. You can even select a specific American or British independent bookseller if you’d like. By default, your physical book will be shipped from the nearest available store in either the US or UK. (I don’t think the site will automatically switch between the two countries, so do make sure you have the correct country selected first. UK stores will ship anywhere in the world that they have delivery services, as long as you pay for the shipping.)
Both physical books and eBooks can be purchased from Bookshop.org. EPUB files from third party retailers like Bookshop.org can be easily imported into most eBook reader apps, including Google Play Books and Apple Books. And this ZDNet article that I’ve archived for you will explain how you can import external EPUB and PDF files into Amazon Kindle. (Here it is: https://web.archive.org/web/20251113224804/https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-add-epub-mobi-and-pdf-files-to-your-kindle-no-converting-required/) So no matter how you read eBooks, you can buy them from Bookshop.org!
A lot of this is copy and pasted from our Related Links & Resources page, and the book descriptions are generally taken from Bookshop.org or from the publishers. But I’ve read these books over the past couple of years, and I can enthusiastically vouch for them. Give your loved one the gift of knowledge of the evils of Gen AI and Big Tech for Christmas!
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Resisting AI: An Anti-Fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence by Dan McQuillian
Blurb from the publisher:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, yet it causes damage to society in ways that can’t be fixed. Instead of helping to address our current crises, AI causes divisions that limit people’s life chances, and even suggests fascistic solutions to social problems. This book provides an analysis of AI’s deep learning technology and its political effects and traces the ways that it resonates with contemporary political and social currents, from global austerity to the rise of the far right.
Dan McQuillan calls for us to resist AI as we know it and restructure it by prioritising the common good over algorithmic optimisation. He sets out an anti-fascist approach to AI that replaces exclusions with caring, proposes people’s councils as a way to restructure AI through mutual aid and outlines new mechanisms that would adapt to changing times by supporting collective freedom.
Academically rigorous, yet accessible to a socially engaged readership, this unique book will be of interest to all who wish to challenge the social logic of AI by reasserting the importance of the common good.
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/resisting-ai-an-anti-fascist-approach-to-artificial-intelligence-dan-mcquillan/62bc466434e9e0ae
Why We Fear AI: On the Interpretation of Nightmares by Hagen Blix and Ingeborg Glimmer
Blurb from the publisher:
Fears about AI tell us more about capitalism today than technology in the future.
Will AI come and take all our jobs? Will it dominate humanity, hack the foundations of our civilization, or even wipe humans of the face of the planet? All kinds of people seem to think so. From academics to billionaires, artists to fraudsters, journalists to the pope, AI nightmares have gripped the popular imagination. Why We Fear AI boldly asserts these fears are actually about capitalism, reimagined as a kind of autonomous intelligent agent.
Science and tech industry insiders Hagen Blix and Ingeborg Glimmer dive into the dark, twisted, and arcane world of AI nightmares in order to demystify what people say about it. They combine expertise in cognitive science and machine learning with political and economic analyses to cut through the hype and technobabble, and show how fears about AI reflect very different economic realities: from venture capitalists to AI engineers, from artists to warehouse workers at Amazon. If we want to understand the fears and potential impacts of AI, we must think about capitalism, the economy, and class power in real terms we can confront and wage our struggles on.
Blix and Glimmer argue that AI nightmares reveal the terrifying underbelly of our current society, of the violence and alienation at the root of capitalism and its way of organizing our world in its image. If we simply let capitalism and tech billionaires run wild, we can expect the worst: automated bureaucracies that protect the powerful and punish the poor; an ever-expanding surveillance apparatus; the cheapening of skills, downward pressures on wages, the expansion of gig-work, and crushing inequality. But that outcome is not inevitable, however much capitalist may dream of it. Why We Fear AI points the way to a different and brighter future, one where our labor, knowledge, and technologies serves us, rather than us serving capital and its owners.
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/why-we-fear-ai-on-the-interpretation-of-nightmares-hagen-blix/21051186
Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant
Blurb from the publisher:
“The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to erase their livelihoods.
The Luddites organized guerrilla raids to smash those machines—on punishment of death—and won the support of Lord Byron, enraged the Prince Regent, and inspired the birth of science fiction. This all-but-forgotten class struggle brought nineteenth-century England to its knees.
Today, technology imperils millions of jobs, robots are crowding factory floors, and artificial intelligence will soon pervade every aspect of our economy. How will this change the way we live? And what can we do about it?
The answers lie in Blood in the Machine. Brian Merchant intertwines a lucid examination of our current age with the story of the Luddites, showing how automation changed our world—and is shaping our future.”
Bookshop.org for hardback and audiobook: https://bookshop.org/p/books/blood-in-the-machine-the-origins-of-the-rebellion-against-big-tech-brian-merchant/
Bookshop.org eBook: https://bookshop.org/p/books/blood-in-the-machine-the-origins-of-the-rebellion-against-big-tech-brian-merchant/
Empire of AI by Karen Hao
Blurb from the publisher:
“From a brilliant longtime AI insider with intimate access to the world of Sam Altman’s OpenAI from the beginning, an eye-opening account of arguably the most fateful tech arms race in history, reshaping the planet in real time, from the cockpit of the company that is driving the frenzy
When AI expert and investigative journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, the organization was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely mercantile, and potentially dangerous, forces. What could go wrong?
Over time, Hao began to wrestle ever more deeply with that question. Increasingly, she realized that the core truth of this massively disruptive sector is that its vision of success requires an almost unprecedented amount of resources: the ‘compute’ power of high-end chips and the processing capacity to create massive large language models, the sheer volume of data that needs to be amassed at scale, the humans “cleaning up” that data for sweatshop wages throughout the Global South, and a truly alarming spike in the usage of energy and water underlying it all. The truth is that we have entered a new and ominous age of empire: only a small handful of globally scaled companies can even enter the field of play. At the head of the pack with its ChatGPT breakthrough, how would OpenAI resist such temptations?
Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Armed with Microsoft’s billions, OpenAI is setting a breakneck pace, chased by a small group of the most valuable companies in human history—toward what end, not even they can define. All this time, Hao has maintained her deep sourcing within the company and the industry, and so she was in intimate contact with the story that shocked the entire tech industry—Altman’s sudden firing and triumphant return. The behind-the-scenes story of what happened, told here in full for the first time, is revelatory of who the people controlling this technology really are. But this isn’t just the story of a single company, however fascinating it is. The g forces pressing down on the people of OpenAI are deforming the judgment of everyone else too—as such forces do. Naked power finds the ideology to cloak itself; no one thinks they’re the bad guy. But in the meantime, as Hao shows through intrepid reporting on the ground around the world, the enormous wheels of extraction grind on. By drawing on the viewpoints of Silicon Valley engineers, Kenyan data laborers, and Chilean water activists, Hao presents the fullest picture of AI and its impact we’ve seen to date, alongside a trenchant analysis of where things are headed. An astonishing eyewitness view from both up in the command capsule of the new economy and down where the real suffering happens, Empire of AI pierces the veil of the industry defining our era.”
Bookshop.org for hardback, eBook, and audiobook: https://bookshop.org/p/books/empire-of-ai-dreams-and-nightmares-in-sam-altman-s-openai-karen-hao/22156498
Digital Safety in a Dangerous World by Kim Crawley
Yes, I’m Kim Crawley and I’m about 90% done writing this book, as of the time that this blog is published!
You can read more about it from my successful Kickstarter campaign from earlier this year, but the table of contents for my book have changed quite a bit since I did the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kimcrawley/digital-safety-in-a-dangerous-world/
The finished form of my book focuses on these topics:
- How to have a completely Gen AI-free PC and phone. How to reduce Big Tech fascism’s ability to spy on you and control your data, as much as possible.
- How to use the internet in a way that avoids Gen AI, and reduces the risk of Big Tech fascist espionnage and interference in your life.
- How the computer technology industry and fascism are deeply intertwined. (Spoiler alert: Most of the shared origins are in Stanford University!)
- You saw Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and other Big Tech billionaires at Donald Trump’s second inauguration last January. I explore how the most evil Big Tech corporations on Earth are directly helping the fascist Trump regime, and why you want to avoid giving them useful information on you as much as possible.
- Operational security for protests and for your everyday life. So you shouldn’t bring your phone?
- My threat models include ICE abductions, and other harms from “law enforcement.” Don’t give these evil insitutions information that could help them find you or people you love! (Undocumented immigrants, documented immigrants, and US citizens, even by birth, have been arrested and tortured by ICE.)
- Big Tech corporations with services that we’re all familliar with (i.e. Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple) are covered in my book, as are the evil Big Tech corporations that almost completely lurk in the shadows, such as Palantir, Clearview AI, and Boston Dynamics.
The eBook will be published no later than the second week of December, so it will be in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, the paperback version will only be available through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, but should arrive in time for Christmas, knowing that my book will be published before December 15th. (But a postal worker strike or similar event could be a contingency!)
Email me at kim.crawley (at) stopgenai.com or message me on Signal at crowgirl.84 if you’re interested in buying my book. You won’t be obligated to make a purchase, but I will email you or message you back with retail links to buy my book as soon as they become available.
Goods that directly support a charity
2026 ‘Masking is Love in Action’ Wall Calendar
This is a great gift for those of us who are wisely avoiding the plague like the plague and support Palestinian survival. (If you aren’t avoiding the plague like the plague, you’re the one with the problem!) Proceeds will support Waad Soboh of Gaza.
Description from webpage:
This 2026 Wall Calendar features 12 designs celebrating the life-affirming decision to #MaskUp. Each month’s design includes a written affirmation, reminders that we all deserve to be valued and protected.
Format: 11 x 8.5 in Staple-bound Wall Calendar
Materials: Coated Silk Paper (smooth, sleek surface), 10-30% Post-Consumer Waste, FSC®-certified virgin fiber, Manufactured using renewable biogas energy, Curbside recyclable and compostable.
$30.00 USD
Keep in mind that this item will ship from the United States.
Shop: https://birdingforbetter.indiemade.com/product/pre-order-2026-masking-love-action-wall-calendar
Mask Sampler Packs from EBSECan Charity Fundraising Store
Give your loved ones the gift of protection from a brain damaging virus this Christmas! (Don’t believe me? Read “ANSWERED: Does COVID-19 Harm the Brain? A Collection of Medical Research (60 Studies)” by Pandemic Accountability Index.)
If someone has been going around in public without a respirator to filter the airborne Covid virus away from their lungs, wearing a respirator from now on is still better than never. Each subsequent Covid infection does more and more probably permanent damage to the brain and body, no matter how “healthy” one was before. (See “What COVID-19 Does to the Body 9th Edition, September 2025” by Pandemic Accountability Index.)
People who are new to masking may not know what size or model of respirator works best for their face. That’s what the Mask Sampler Packs are for.
Proceeds will help give respirator masks for free to those who cannot afford to buy them.
$14.99 to $64.99 CAD
These ship from Canada. People from outside of the United States can purchase these packs without Trump tariffs.
Shop: https://shop.evidencebased.ca/collections/mask-sampler-packs
Millie Bear from EBSECan Charity Fundraising Store
I have a Millie Bear!
Now someone you love can have their own Millie Bear for Christmas.
As per description:
“Meet our official “Mask-ot” Millie the Bear! To celebrate shipping one million pieces of respiratory protective equipment (RPE), we thought Millie would be the perfect name for our fuzzy friend.
This beautiful handmade masked teddy bear with the Donate A Mask logo was created by a Caring Canadian Artist.
Our Mask-ot is being sold to raise funds to continue providing free high-quality masks across Canada to people who need them. The proceeds from each bear sold go towards our Request Program.”
$24.99 CAD
Millie ships from Canada. People from outside of the United States can purchase them without Trump tariffs.
Shop: https://shop.evidencebased.ca/products/millie-bear
Christmas goods from Oxfam UK
Oxfam is a long established charity in the UK.
“Since Oxfam first started in 1942, we’ve challenged the underlying causes of poverty, while supporting people to cope when disaster strikes. These principles are just as relevant today. But inequality is on the rise, and global challenges from climate to conflict to cost of living are reversing progress against extreme poverty. So, the same old approach cannot be the answer.”
Oxfam helps Palestinians in one of their many campaigns:
“What is Oxfam doing in Gaza?
Our local teams and partners are preparing to respond at scale after months of extraordinary challenges delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza.
With your support, more people will access clean water, food, fuel, hygiene supplies, shelter, and psychosocial support.”
Proceeds from all of the goods in Oxfam’s charity store go to support their work.
Oxfam UK shop goods ship from the UK. People from outside of the United States can purchase them without Trump tariffs.
Fairtrade cotton pyjamas in women’s sizes
£40.00
Fairtrade cotton pyjamas in children’s sizes
£32.00
Tony’s Chocolonely Gingerbread Milk Chocolate Bar
£4.50
Ukuva Mild Foodie Gift – Spicy Fruit Chutney, Herb Grinder, Garlic Pepper Grinder
£14.00
I chose a few items that caught my eye. But if you go here, there are dozens and dozens more gifts you can browse, all of which ship from the UK and support Oxfam: https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/sbo-christmas-gifts/category/sbo-christmas-gifts
Goods from Stop Gen AI
We sell a variety of t-shirts, tote bags, and mugs featuring real human artists. All proceeds support our mutual aid to give money to people who are struggling to survive due to lost income related to Gen AI.
Wearing these items also tells the world that you oppose the evil planet destoying torment nexus!
We have both a Bonfire store that ships from the United States (may be subject to Trump’s tariffs is you’re outside of the US, but is tariff-free from within the US) and a store built into our website that ships from Europe.
Bonfire store, items range from $21.99 USD to $41.99 USD, choose this option if you’re in the US: https://www.bonfire.com/store/stopgenai
StopGenAI.com store, items range from €9.55 to €34.07, choose this option if you’re outside of the US: https://stopgenai.com/shop/
Pivot to AI
A variety of goods, from stickers, to t-shirts, to framed art, are sold in support of Pivot to AI. Prices range from about $1.95 CAD to over $100.00 CAD.
Pivot to AI isn’t really a charity, but proceeds support David Gerard’s news reporting work in the resistence to the planet destroying torment nexus.
Goods ship from Redbubble from a geographical location according to your shipping address. So items may be shipped from outside of the US or from the US. Read Redbubble’s “Where does my order ship from?” page to be sure your purchases aren’t subject to Trump’s tariffs.
Shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/pivot-to-ai/shop
For more, check out:
Pivot to AI blog: https://pivot-to-ai.com/
Pivot to AI YouTube: https://youtube.com/@PivotToAI
Kim Crawley’s interview of David Gerard! Anti Gen AI Heroes: David pivots to reality
Support artists
It’s tough enough to survive as an artist before Gen AI. Since Gen AI, artist livelihoods have been harmed more now than ever.
These are some real human artists with goods you can buy to support them directly!
Angela Marie Morton
She’s a friend to Stop Gen AI, and she lives a Covid-safe lifestyle.
A wide variety of her artworks can be enjoyed on stuff like stickers, notebooks, phone cases, t-shirts, and framed art. Prices range from about $1.95 CAD to over $100.00 CAD.
Goods ship from Redbubble from a geographical location according to your shipping address. So items may be shipped from outside of the US or from the US. Read Redbubble’s “Where does my order ship from?” page to be sure your purchases aren’t subject to Trump’s tariffs.
Shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/angelamarieart/shop
Bibipins
Bibi is a Black and disabled artist in Canada. They make really cool looking disability aid goods (such as compression gloves, walking sticks, and back braces), plus goods that can be enjoyed by abled and disabled people alike, such as plushies and apparel.
They also can add a 3M Aura Particulate Respirator 1870+ N95 Mask to your order for free! https://bibipins.com/en-ca/products/3m-aura-particulate-respirator-1870-n95-mask-individual-mask-free
Although they are in Canada, their goods are now shipping from the US. That means only orders to US addresses can be sure to avoid Trump tariffs:
“The US Tariffs went into effect starting August 29th, 2025. Which greatly raised shipping prices and added high duties to products going to the US. I am in the process of moving most of my products to a US fulfillment center. It should be all set up by mid October, 2025. I will have to raise prices slightly to accommodate things. Because I will be covering the additional customs, duties and taxes. But the processing times and shipping will be much faster! Thank you for your patience!
Please subscribe to my newsletter to get more information. Thanks for you patience!”
Shop here! https://bibipins.com/
