How to disable and control AI features in Ubuntu and its applications

¿How to disable AI features in Ubuntu? If you're worried about how today's technology is being invaded by all sorts of smart assistants, automatic summaries, and predictive features, Ubuntu is probably one of the systems where you have the most leeway to keep AI under controlCanonical, the company behind the distribution, has opted for a much more cautious strategy than other giants, and that works in your favor if you want a clean, predictable desktop that respects your privacy.

However, that doesn't mean you're completely safe from artificial intelligence just by using Ubuntu or any Linux distro. Most of the AI ​​that surrounds you doesn't come "standard" with the operating system, but is integrated into specific applications such as browsers, office suites, online services, or even accessibility tools.In this guide, you'll see, in an organized way, what Canonical is doing with AI in Ubuntu, what you can expect at the system level, and, above all, how to disable (or limit as much as possible) AI features in the most common applications you'll use on Ubuntu: Firefox, Chrome/Chromium, Edge, Google services, Microsoft tools, and more.

Canonical's stance: AI yes, but with responsibility

Before going into detail about each program, it is important to understand what approach Ubuntu follows. Canonical has made it very clear that it does not want to sell Ubuntu as "the AI ​​operating system" or flood the desktop with invasive assistants.The goal is different: to incorporate intelligent functions only when they are mature, have real utility, and respect historical principles of the project such as security, privacy, quality, and free software.

The company's plans distinguish two main types of artificial intelligence functions that may come to Ubuntu:

• Implicit functionsThey improve existing features without requiring the user to "talk to an AI." For example, accessibility, speech-to-text conversion, or silent improvements to the screen reader. From your perspective, the system simply works better.
• Explicit functionsThese are the ones that are presented as AI in a visible way, such as assistants to automate tasks, software development aids, or advanced management tools. They require you to consciously activate or search for them.

Canonical has been unequivocal: AI models won't be run in the background "just because" on Ubuntu.No hidden processes analyzing everything you do without your knowledge. Furthermore, there's a strong focus on... local inferenceThat is, the models run directly on your machine instead of sending data to the cloud.

To facilitate this, Canonical is working on what are called “inference snapshots” (inference snaps), Snap packages that include everything needed to run AI models optimized for your hardware. The model is installed and runs in a typical Snap confined environment: He does not have free access to the system, but only to the resources you allow him.It is a much more prudent approach than that of other platforms that push assistants permanently connected to their servers.

However, Canonical has also warned of something important: They do not plan to offer a global "red button" that shuts down the entire system's AI at once.The Ubuntu ecosystem is too diverse (different editions, desktops, snaps, flatpaks, third-party programs) to guarantee that a single switch controls everything. Control is exercised on a case-by-case basis: package by package, application by application.

AI in Ubuntu: what comes standard and what doesn't

Given that context, the logical question is: are there any AI features that come enabled by default in Ubuntu today? Unlike Windows 11 or some Android ROMs loaded with "intelligence" everywhere, Ubuntu doesn't launch assistants, screen summaries, or "reminders" of what you've done without your asking..

The features that come closest to AI in a typical Ubuntu installation are usually found in three areas:

• Accessibility and screen readingThe voice reader or Orca can use advanced techniques to synthesize speech or process text, but its behavior remains relatively classic and, above all, is explicitly activated.
• Online servicesIf you log in with Google, Microsoft, or other providers' accounts in the browser, many smart features rely more on those services than on Ubuntu.
• Specific desktop applicationsBrowsers like Firefox or Chrome, text editors, messaging clients, or productivity tools can integrate their own AI, regardless of the operating system.

That means that, If you want to "turn off AI" in Ubuntu, your main strategy isn't about a magic system panel, but about reviewing each application you use daily, one by one.From here we will see how to do it in the most common programs.

How to mute or limit voice and accessibility features in Ubuntu

One of the classic questions in Ubuntu has little to do with chatbots or advanced assistants, but they are often lumped together: the system's voice reader or "robot voice"Although it's not an AI in the style of Gemini or Copilot, it can still be annoying when it's talking or interfering, and it's useful to know how to control it.

If the voice reader is activated on your Ubuntu desktop or a variant like Linux Mint and you want to silence it, there's a quick way without going into advanced settings:

• Open the panel of System configuration.
• Enter the section "Sound".
• In the volume levels section, Locate the outputs related to the voice reader or the accessibility service (They may appear as “Speech Dispatcher”, “Screen Reader”, “Orca” or similar).
• Lower those sliders to a minimum or mute them completely using the mute icon.

With this, Speech synthesis will still exist at the system level, but you will no longer hear it.If you want to go further and completely disable the screen reader, you can go to the section on "Accessibility" in the settings and uncheck any option related to screen reader or text reading.

Disable AI in Firefox on Ubuntu

Firefox is the default browser on many Ubuntu installations and derivatives like Linux Mint, so it's one of the first places you'll encounter AI-powered features. Mozilla has changed direction and made it clear that it sees artificial intelligence as part of the browser's future.But at the same time, it has responded to community criticism by offering a "master switch" for those who don't want any of that.

In that panel you will find, among others, these features:

• Local translationswhich allow you to view pages in your language without necessarily depending on external services.
• Alternative text in PDFs, which generates descriptions for images within documents, aimed at improving accessibility.
• AI-powered tab grouping, which proposes grouping tabs and automatically suggests group names.
• Link preview, a function that displays a summary of the content before opening the page.
• Chatbots in the sidebarwhich allow you to use assistants such as Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini or Le Chat Mistral while browsing.

If you're looking for an almost complete disconnection from these types of functions, the easy way is:

• Open the Firefox main menu and enter “Adjustments” or “Preferences”.
• Go to section “AI Controls” or “AI Controls” when it becomes available in your version.
• Activate the option “Block AI improvements”which will prevent new features, pop-ups, or invitations to use AI from appearing.
• Just below, Deactivate one by one the specific features you don't want to use. (intelligent translations, link previews, tab grouping, chatbots, etc.).

For those using an older version of Firefox on Ubuntu (or while this section is being rolled out to all branches), there is a more "manual" way to cut off most of the functionality associated with machine learning. Firefox maintains a hidden panel with advanced settings in about:configalso accessible on Linux:

• Writes about:config in the address bar and press Enter.
• Accept the warning that you are about to access advanced settings.
• In the search engine, type ml (from machine learning).

You will see a number of internal preferences. To broadly disable almost everything related to AI and machine learning, you can set these parameters to "false".:

• browser.ml.enabled
• ml.enabled
• ml.chat.enabled
• ml.linkPreview.enabled
• ml.pageAssist.enabled
• ml.smartAssist.enabled
• ai.control.translations
• tabs.groups.smart.enabled
• urlbar.quicksuggest.mlEnabled

With that combination, Sidebar chatbot integrations, AI-generated link previews, smart tab grouping, model-based local translations, and other machine learning-powered features are disappearing.Basically, you turn Firefox into a much more classic browser, keeping the modern engine but without all those extras.

Disable AI in Chrome/Chromium and Edge from Ubuntu

If you have installed Google Chrome, Chromium or even Microsoft Edge on your Ubuntu, the picture changes quite a bit. These browsers have been filled with AI features, both local and in the cloud.From writing assistants to security and recommendation models, there's plenty of room for cuts here too.

In Chrome, there are, broadly speaking, two integrated AI modules:

• Functions connected to Google servers, such as navigation assistants, smart searches, or generative AI experiments.
• Local functions linked to Gemini Nano, geared towards utility tasks such as phishing detection, tab grouping, or limited contextual analysis.

To further refine your options, from Ubuntu you can use the experimental flags menu:

• Open Chrome and type chrome://flags in the address bar.
• In the page's internal search engine, type AIto filter all options related to artificial intelligence.
• Then repeat the search with Gemini to locate the specific flags of Gemini Nano.

The most conservative way, if you want to get rid of almost everything, is Configure all AI-related flags to “Disabled”, paying special attention to:

• AI Mode entry point in Omnibox.
• AI disabled on user input or similar.
• AI mode matches allowed in Omnibox.
• Gemini's prompts API for automated suggestions.
• Prompts API for Gemini Nano with multimodal input.

Once deactivated and the browser restarted, You will have removed the visible entries for AI functions and most of the experiments related to Gemini Nano.You'll still have basic protection against phishing and malware (which is worth keeping), but with much less of the smart "noise" on top of it.

In the case of Microsoft Edge installed on Ubuntu, the pattern is almost identical. Edge includes a built-in Copilot, plus features for automatic writing and AI-powered history analysis.To cut them out:

• Writes edge://flags in the address bar.
• Filter by AI and by Copilot.
• Deactivate flags related to the Edge's Copilot mode, the function Compose (AI-assisted writing on the web) and the AI applied to browsing history.

In addition, Edge offers a dedicated panel in the sidebar for managing its assistant. From Ubuntu, you can open it directly:

• edge://settings/appearance/copilotAndSidebar

From there it is possible Completely hide the Copilot button, customize what appears in the sidebar, and turn off notifications or smart suggestions.Although Edge is heavily geared towards Windows, many of these options will also be available in the Linux version.

Controlling AI in Google services from Ubuntu

Even if you use Ubuntu as your operating system, it's very likely that you'll still use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, YouTube, or Google Search through the browser. And that's where a large part of the most intrusive AI is concentrated today, regardless of the operating system you use.

In Gmail and Docs, Google groups many smart features (from text suggestions to automatic organization) under the umbrella of Google Workspace “smart features”If you prefer your emails and documents to be handled in the most basic way possible, the most radical approach is to disable that entire category.

To do this from Ubuntu (or any system), simply:

• Open Gmail in the browser.
• Tap the icon of gear (Settings) and enter “View all settings”.
• On the tab "General", scroll down to the section of “Smart features of Google Workspace”.
• Click on “Manage Workspace smart feature settings” and disable:
  • Smart features in Google Workspace.
  • Smart features in other Google products.
• On that same general tab, also uncheck the box “Activate smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet”.

With this, You lose automated features such as the automatic creation of events upon receiving invitations, or Any help writing Gemini in Gmail?But you gain control and reduce the automatic processing of your information.The applications will normally restart on their own to apply the changes.

Regarding the Google SearchOne of the most visible changes are the so-called “AI Overviews”AI-generated summaries appear before the regular search results. There's no universal button to turn them off, but there are several tricks to avoid them:

• Add -ai at the end of your queries, for example: “How to disable AI features in Ubuntu -ai”In many cases, this prevents the AI-generated overview from appearing.
• If this fails and Google says it hasn't found any results, you can switch to mode "Web" using the filter below the search bar (sometimes hidden behind the “More” button). In Web mode, the search focuses on classic links without AI layers on top.
• As a more forceful measure, consider switching to engines with less emphasis on AI, such as DuckDuckGo, which even offers a specific version without AI in noai.duckduckgo.com.

You can manage all of this from Ubuntu just like from any other system, since The key is not the operating system but the web service you connect to..

Microsoft AI and other services used since Ubuntu

Even if you don't use Windows as your main operating system, it's quite likely you still have some connection to it. Microsoft 365 account, Outlook, OneDrive, or Office web toolsaccessible from the browser in Ubuntu. Microsoft's strategy is heavily focused on Copilot and the integration of AI across all its products.

From Ubuntu, you won't manage the system's Copilot (which is specific to Windows), but you can decide to what extent you want to coexist with it. Copilot on the web, in Office online or in EdgeThe ideas are similar to those we have already seen:

• On the Microsoft 365 websiteReview privacy and personalization settings to reduce smart suggestions.
• In Outlook onlineTo disable assisted drafting features, if you do not want your emails to be processed to generate automatic drafts.
• On OneDrive and other serviceslimit personalized experiences and content analytics when such options exist.

Although some of these configurations are better documented for Windows, In practice, these rules apply equally to your Microsoft account, regardless of the operating system you use on your desktop..

Outside of the Microsoft ecosystem, it's also important to keep an eye on other cross-platform applications you might use on Ubuntu, such as WhatsApp Web, messaging clients, code editors with Copilot or Cursor-type assistantsMany of them incorporate AI as standard, and it's worth reviewing their internal settings:

• disable WhatsApp AI (mobile, which then reflects changes in WhatsApp Web) You can disable suggested replies, AI stickers and message summaries from the Settings menu, in the Chats and Notifications sections.
• In editors like VS Code, neovim with extensions, or Cursor-type solutions, it's worth checking if there are AI extensions active by default (GitHub Copilot, Codeium, etc.) and uninstall or disable them if you don't want automatic suggestions.

Although these details may stray a bit from the realm of "pure and simple Ubuntu", in practice These are the apps and services where AI has the greatest impact on your daily life.so they are part of the same problem.

Ultimately, Canonical's combination of decisions—prioritizing local inference, not launching hidden assistants, using Snap to confine models, and evaluating each feature before integrating it—makes it Ubuntu is a fairly reasonable environment for those who want to benefit from AI at their own pace, or simply keep it as turned off as possible.For your part, by reviewing your browser, online services, and desktop tools, you can get the system very close to that ideal scenario where smart features only appear when you call for them, and not the other way around.