How to turn off AI in your Google Docs

It happened to me: I opened a Google Doc to write an article, and was immediately confronted with a text box inviting me to “Write with Gemini.” I looked for some buttons to pull up the flashy AI screen, but couldn’t find them. It made me crazy.

Now, instead of writing the article I’m supposed to be working on, I’m writing about how to remove AI popups from the Google Docs screen, as it took me a while to figure that out. You’re welcome.

The first fix is ​​pretty straightforward:

• Click “Gemini” in the top menu bar above the document.
• In the drop-down menu, select Bottom Bar Preferences.
• You can choose to turn this bottom bar off, which will get rid of the AI ​​box at the bottom of your screen.

Full disclosure: I was so irritated when I set out to find Bottom Bar Preferences that I completely missed it at first. Instead, I clicked “Ask Something Else” and asked Gemini to help me remove himself from my life. The AI ​​may not be human, but Gemini seemed to have some sort of survival instinct, as it asked me to tap the “X” icon. This does not remove Gemini. He simply shut down the conversation where I was asking him how to turn himself off. Suspicious!

Other affected Google Docs users have reported features I haven’t encountered yet, such as the Help Me Type feature that hovers over the mouse cursor while I work. This seems like something that would bother me, so perhaps it would be worth nipping this in the bud before it’s too late. Benjamin Franklin once said: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” (He was talking about fire safety. I’m talking about product design.)

Instead of turning off each individual AI feature like a game of whac-o-mole, we can disable Smart Features via Google Workspace via Gmail.

• First, go to your Gmail inbox.
• From there, find the gear icon for Settings and tap on it.
• Then, at the top of the menu, click “View all settings.” (But while you’re here, you should pick a fun topic for your inbox. Would a little whimsy kill you?)

• After you click “View all settings,” scroll about halfway down the page to find “Google Workspace smart features,” then click “Manage Workspace smart features settings.”

• Here, you’re presented with two options: one that lets you toggle smart features in Google Workspace (like those annoying Gemini popups in Google Docs), and one that applies to other smart features (which I personally find less annoying). I only turned off the first option, but if for some reason you hate having Gmail automatically create calendar events for your flights, this is where you can fix that.

You should now be safe from annoying Gemini pop-ups that disrupt your writing process in Google Docs. You can rest easy.