Please allow AI to be turned off

[1dufflebag 15]

Issue: AI is of absolutely no value to me, but it insists on hijacking my notes and “cleaning things up.” This takes several minutes and I have not found a way to interrupt its cycle. I mainly us the IOS version and when the little double starred document AI symbol starts rapid flashing I might as well put my phone down and find something else to do.

[PinkElephant 8,126]

AI is plain opt in - it is completely inactive as long as you don't decide yourself to use it.

If you don't want to use it, just avoid to tap/click on the AI button.

[Boot17 1,457]

@1dufflebag

Yeah - hoping they move the prominence of it towards the end of the tool bar once it's out of beta or at least give us an option to hide the button altogether.

I've never accidentally clicked it or tapped on it though, but I'm mostly on Desktop and it's probably way easier to accidentally trigger it on mobile I imagine.

Did you click the 'Don't show me again' option at one time? Fortunately, I never tapped though so when I tap the AI button on mobile it says "Try AI Note Cleanup (Beta)" and then I can click 'Cancel'.

[ghon 78]

Yesterday I had a strange behaviour on the IOS Evernote app (latest version): I wanted to write something on an already existing note and I guess either the internet connection was very weak or not there. However, the AI button was wildly flickering and I was unable to write anything, the cursor disappeared as well.

This does not happen to me when internet connection is alright, so I guess there is some bug. And, because I do not use the AI formatting as well, I really hope that in future, there will be a checkbox in the options menue to opt-out from using the AI formatting and consequently to remove also the AI button from the menue.

[gazumped 11,677]

2 hours ago, ghon said:

a checkbox in the options menue to opt-out from using the AI formatting

Hi.  As already mentioned,  AI cleanup and AI search do not come into play unless you specifically request it.  It's not necessary to 'opt out' - though I agree maybe opt-in features should be in a drop-down or under the "+" icon.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

But on mobile devices the little button in amongst all the other little buttons may be easy to hit by accident. On my Samsung S22, I always use the stylus, which gives more control. My wonky fingers, though, could easily brush against the AI cleanup button when trying to tap the Aa formatting button, esp. since they're side by side in the middle of the row of buttons. I'm with @Boot17, put it at the end of the row, or even as a sub-item beneath formatting, or better yet make its presence optional.

[whawn 2]

Absolutely agree -- I don't even want to see an option to invite an AI operator to rummage through my stuff.   It's bad enough the Bright Spoon Benders, (ltd) of Italy can do so as and when they like.

Edited January 14 by whawn
add thoughts

[s2sailor 2,207]

1 hour ago, whawn said:

Absolutely agree -- I don't even want to see an option to invite an AI operator to rummage through my stuff.

I agree with the sentiment, I don't use it either but they view this as a positive feature and will likely want it to be easily discoverable.  It is easily avoided on desktop and on mobile the cursor starts in the search field so I've not accidentally enabled it there either.  I suppose if you are editing text in the search field then it is possible to accidentally hit it.

1 hour ago, whawn said:

It's bad enough the Bright Spoon Benders, (ltd) of Italy can do so as and when they like.

I'm not sure what is meant by this.  Bending Spoons bought Evernote, so yes, the app is theirs to do as they please.

[ghon 78]

I still have the AI button flickering, see attached video. No idea why, but the consequence is that I cannot edit or leave the note. I have to restart Evernote to work again. Did you experience that, too?

[gazumped 11,677]

20 minutes ago, ghon said:

I still have the AI button flickering, see attached video. No idea why, but the consequence is that I cannot edit or leave the note. I have to restart Evernote to work again. Did you experience that, too?

It will apparently cost me money to view your clip,  so I'm considering deleting it as spam...  The AI button should be inert unless you click it - what did you do/

 

 

[Boot17 1,457]

Here is @ghon's file in gif form:

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

1 hour ago, ghon said:

I still have the AI button flickering, see attached video. No idea why, but the consequence is that I cannot edit or leave the note. I have to restart Evernote to work again. Did you experience that, too?

 

RPReplay_Final1706211927.mov 564.02 kB · 1 download

I had no trouble viewing the video. Has it been doing this since you reported it last September? Does it happen every time you try to create or edit a note? Any further information would be helpful in trying to offer advice.

[ghon 78]

Yes, it is a bug since last year. I only observe it on IoS mobile and it happens automatically when I try to edit a note, but irregularly and only on some notes. This is the reason I did not yet submit a ticket and also because support did not work properly then. 

I guess it is related to poor internet connection in some places I am with my mobile.

[janndk 500]

Would be nice if that AI-button could be moved somewhere else. Or even better: could be removed from the toolbar.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

2 hours ago, ghon said:

Yes, it is a bug since last year. I only observe it on IoS mobile and it happens automatically when I try to edit a note, but irregularly and only on some notes. This is the reason I did not yet submit a ticket and also because support did not work properly then. 

I guess it is related to poor internet connection in some places I am with my mobile.

As support begins to improve (hopefully) it might be good to submit a report to them. But of course if it is related to Internet connectivity, there's not much they can do. OTOH, if others have also experienced it, they can get an idea of how common it is.

[okto 3]

On 9/20/2023 at 6:41 PM, PinkElephant said:

AI is plain opt in - it is completely inactive as long as you don't decide yourself to use it.

If you don't want to use it, just avoid to tap/click on the AI button.

Not good enough. A person should always have the option to rescind access to their data, especially for personal use, and people sometimes click things on accident.

[s2sailor 2,207]

4 hours ago, okto said:

Not good enough. A person should always have the option to rescind access to their data, especially for personal use, and people sometimes click things on accident.

If you click on it by accident, there is another popup that you need to click to activate.  If you accidentally click on both, then maybe it was meant to be 🙂.

[ciara_belle 25]

Plus 1

i dont need or want ai... anywhere.

and it just messed up my format bar by removing features i use all day... either allow me to remove the widget icon .. or allow me to rearrange the format bar to see things i use 100 times a day. 

no where in prefs to turn off the button.. no where in the button to remove either. 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

11 minutes ago, ciara_belle said:

and it just messed up my format bar by removing features i use all day... either allow me to remove the widget icon .. or allow me to rearrange the format bar to see things i use 100 times a day. 

The latest update (v. 10.81.4) fixes this by removing the extra space. But I totally agree about not wanting AI, and esp. hate that whenever you select more than a certain number of words (or characters) it pops up an AI Edit icon for you to click. It's a small number too. This may be worse than the / command popup.

[uppsala27 2]

I totally agree with Dave.

I do not need any AI Edit icon at all !!

Please take it away forever. Its only an extreme annoyance to see the pop up millions ot times a day!

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

22 hours ago, uppsala27 said:

I totally agree with Dave.

I do not need any AI Edit icon at all !!

Please take it away forever. Its only an extreme annoyance to see the pop up millions ot times a day!

Hi, and welcome to the forums. These are basically user to user, so give feedback directly to Evernote at feedback@evernote.com.

[PinkElephant 8,126]

On 3/26/2024 at 7:45 PM, uppsala27 said:

I do not need any AI Edit icon at all !!

Please take it away forever. Its only an extreme annoyance to see the pop up millions ot times a day!

It doesn’t pop up unless you make it pop. In fact on any UI you will find functions that you will not use. I don’t understand why you are upset about a function that will only come to life when you actively employ it. Unless you do, it will just be there, as other rarely used,  but helpful functions.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

It doesn’t pop up unless you make it pop. In fact on any UI you will find functions that you will not use. I don’t understand why you are upset about a function that will only come to life when you actively employ it. Unless you do, it will just be there, as other rarely used,  but helpful functions.

Sorry, but this is no longer true. Whether it's something in v. 10.81.4 or something switched on in the back end, selecting text will regularly pop up an AI Edit icon in the note with the same functions as the button. If I type the words "IMPORTANT: To secure" and select it, the icon pops up every time. If the "IMPORTANT" is not boldfaced, it will not. Similar apparent randomness occurs in other text selection, but sooner or later you will get this popup.

[ebtihal 11]

Agreed.  I clicked on the AI widget accidentally today  on my laptop and now can't select anything in any of my notes without that lousy "AI Edit" popup getting in my way with an inane suggestion.  As is typical with AI,  no matter how much a buzzword it is, it has no idea what I need or want. 
I should be able to click on the AI widget and "Cancel AI" should appear among the suggestions.  That, and/or a tickbox in Preferences/Settings to disable AI.  

[PinkElephant 8,126]

I doubt you even tried … you usual sign is you criticize without knowledge.

The first AI attempts were less than promising. These latest offers actually work. It is still AI, but for this it is now remarkably consistent.

We will see where it takes us. Since it is a plugin, it won’t use much devs capacity. 

About privacy concerns there is information about it. Since it is strictly on user demand, anybody can decide.

[Boot17 1,457]

On 9/20/2023 at 7:17 PM, Boot17 said:

Yeah - hoping they move the prominence of it towards the end of the tool bar once it's out of beta or at least give us an option to hide the button altogether.

Yay! They did this! 🎉

But now...

I select just one more character...

 

This constant popup on text selection is even more annoying IMO.
🤦

[gazumped 11,677]

4 minutes ago, ben353253 said:

You debase yourself daily on this forum; I'm embarrassed for you.

Ad hominem attacks?

[ebtihal 11]

@PinkElephant : "I doubt you even tried"   
All I want to do is select text and delete it.  Why do I need an AI suggestion for that?
I write notes for me, filled with unusual abbreviations and lexicography. AI's suggestions are culled from online sources with the intention of fixing text to make it suitable for others. Great if you need that, but I haven't shared one of my hundreds of notes with another human since 2016. 

@PinkElephant :"Since it is strictly on user demand, anybody can decide" 
Turning it off should be on user demand, too. We're all here because we clicked on the widget out of curiosity, or by accident, and now are trapped with it forever cluttering us and forcing extra clicks.  Productivity diminishers are bad in my part of the world, at least. 

[s2sailor 2,207]

I agree they should allow a way to disable the AI popup for those who don't want it. Still, until they do, I find that it pops up above any selected text and is not usually in my way, and if it is, clicking to the right of the button removes it, at least until the next time text is selected.  End of the world, no.  Inconvenient, yes.  AI cleanup was, IMO, a waste of space, but I think the new options in AI edit show some promise.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

1 hour ago, ebtihal said:

@PinkElephant : "I doubt you even tried"   
All I want to do is select text and delete it.  Why do I need an AI suggestion for that?
I write notes for me, filled with unusual abbreviations and lexicography. AI's suggestions are culled from online sources with the intention of fixing text to make it suitable for others. Great if you need that, but I haven't shared one of my hundreds of notes with another human since 2016. 

@PinkElephant :"Since it is strictly on user demand, anybody can decide" 
Turning it off should be on user demand, too. We're all here because we clicked on the widget out of curiosity, or by accident, and now are trapped with it forever cluttering us and forcing extra clicks.  Productivity diminishers are bad in my part of the world, at least. 

@ebtihal, I'm in a comparable situation. I craft notes related to household matters, but many more related to research or ideas for writing about interests of mine. They are not notes meant for immediate publication, or to be shared with fellow employees, supervisors, clients, etc., needing bullet points or changes of tone. Nor does their grammar need improving, I guarantee you. If I never click the AI button, that should be enough to keep it from getting in my way. To have an icon pop up on random chunks of selected text that won't leave even while I'm formatting them or doing something else with them, is far too aggressive of an intrusion into my processes.

[antoinecassar 2]

I badly miss Evernote Legacy already. Remove this annoying AI button that comes up every time I highlight a word or line. I am very close to switching to a different note-taking app, after over 10 years.

[antoinecassar 2]

I badly miss Evernote Legacy already. Remove this annoying AI button that comes up every time I highlight a word or line. I am very close to switching to a different note-taking app, after over 10 years.

[todd_n 5]

On 3/28/2024 at 11:14 AM, Boot17 said:

Yay! They did this! 🎉

But now...

I select just one more character...

 

This constant popup on text selection is even more annoying IMO.
🤦

Agreed, this is very distracting (and annoying)

[Boot17 1,457]

On 3/28/2024 at 10:14 AM, Boot17 said:

On 9/20/2023 at 7:17 PM, Boot17 said:

Yeah - hoping they move the prominence of it towards the end of the tool bar once it's out of beta or at least give us an option to hide the button altogether.

Yay! They did this! 🎉

Maybe I spoke too soon? This is what I'm seeing on Mac Desktop v10.82.2

but I was forced to update my 10.60 something version on my Windows Desktop and now I have Windows Desktop v10.82.2 and am seeing it back on the toolbar there.

 

So who knows... but I give up.

 

 

 

[Jon/t 1,293]

5 hours ago, Boot17 said:

This is what I'm seeing on Mac Desktop v10.82.2

Not seen the round one in the menu bar before. I've got a round floating button thing at the bottom right. 

I think they're testing a few different types of button to see what gets used the most of what folk like/don't like. 

Would imagine they'll settle on something soon. 

[ValMac 5]

the AI button is driving me mad on my Windows 11 version. Every time I try to select some text to copy and paste it the button pops up and I cant get rid of it

[bearbecue 13]

On 9/21/2023 at 1:41 AM, PinkElephant said:

AI is plain opt in - it is completely inactive as long as you don't decide yourself to use it.

If you don't want to use it, just avoid to tap/click on the AI button.

Well, I accidentally tapped it because it popped under the mouse cursor after selecting text, even though I do not want it, at all !

If it's "opt-in", then it should appear in the settings as a toggle so we can turn it off, especially as it is obnoxiously invasive even if you didn't click it.

I don't want that AI feature on my notes, no intrusive popup tooltips, and certainly not sharing some of my notes with third parties so that "AI features" I give zero ***** about can be used

[ebtihal 11]

Yes, and no matter where I put my cursor, in ANY note (not just the one in which I accidentally hit the AI widget) this distracting nuisance of a message pops up.    This happens for others, right, not just me?

[s2sailor 2,207]

2 hours ago, bearbecue said:

If it's "opt-in", then it should appear in the settings as a toggle so we can turn it off, especially as it is obnoxiously invasive even if you didn't click it.

Feedback@evernote.com

We are mostly other users here.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

12 hours ago, ebtihal said:

Yes, and no matter where I put my cursor, in ANY note (not just the one in which I accidentally hit the AI widget) this distracting nuisance of a message pops up.    This happens for others, right, not just me?

That one you can turn off. It's on  the ... menu at top right of any note, under Slash commands.

[exceles 25]

The IA may be optional to interact with manually to get things out of it but in reality it has already indexed all of your notes. In some moment Evernote decided without your permission to share all of your notes with OpenAI. Indexing notes takes some time. You don't just activate IA and it magically works, so it is based on the previows indexing. You have been already hijacked without permission. Are they going to do something about your notes? probably no, but your information is not private anymore. It does not belonge to you even if you think you do. Just stop paying and you will see.

EDIT: The only thing that prevents me from coming here to post more issues is the force in the forum that protects every change in evernote. It is like if I come here to say something about evernote is anoying, people here will start defending evernote reasons instead of understand what I say. It's been like that since I remember from 10 years ago.

[gazumped 11,677]

3 minutes ago, exceles said:

in reality it has already indexed all of your notes

Quote

At Evernote we take many precautions to keep your data private and secure, especially when we use AI models to process it, and we make sure that your notes will never be used for training without your consent. In addition, all of our AI features are opt-in only, to guarantee that you are the one deciding to power your Evernote with AI.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/20406371441939-AI-Powered-Search-Overview

(My emphasis)

[Jon/t 1,293]

9 minutes ago, exceles said:

but in reality it has already indexed all of your notes

Not, it doesn't work like this.

9 minutes ago, exceles said:

In some moment Evernote decided without your permission to share all of your notes with OpenAI.

This would most likely break a whole bunch of European privacy laws and Evernote is European now so this wouldn't happen.

Read the link @gazumped posted and I wrote this which explains it a bit more:

https://tamingthetrunk.substack.com/i/138128044/how-does-evernote-ai-powered-search-work

[exceles 25]

I have already read that policy. I do not believe it because of the erratic behaviour evernote does. It is not clear how that IA thing works. Every one that wants IA should ask for it. I know there is no way you will agree because I have read the thread and you keep posting that evernote would not do it so now it has became a difference of opinions. I do think they have indexed all of the notes by openAI and I know you do not think so. It is just so invasibe and anoying and out of place and so well defended that nothing can be done.

 

EDIT: Remember at first before evernote was sold, they promess us total privacy, no one would ever read notes. Then they start saying they will read notes for out wealth and then they sold the company with all  of our data, in that moment the promess was broken. You can believe all you want but the truth is that they manage your data the way they want and just give you void promesses. Evernote IA did go though my notes without permission, I can not explain how but it is something you know by the behaviour. I never allowed the IA in my notes but they are. Dont talk about buttons press by accident. It is the most invasive thing ever in my property.

[thefryhole 41]

The AI edit pop-up is driving me absolutely batty. It blocks text I'm trying to select and blocks locations where I'm trying to move text to. It seems it would work just as well behind a right click so it's quickly available (I don't use it but obviously others do) without being in the way.

[Cristiano478 152]

14 horas atrás, exceles disse:

The IA may be optional to interact with manually to get things out of it but in reality it has already indexed all of your notes. In some moment Evernote decided without your permission to share all of your notes with OpenAI. Indexing notes takes some time. You don't just activate IA and it magically works, so it is based on the previows indexing. You have been already hijacked without permission. Are they going to do something about your notes? probably no, but your information is not private anymore. It does not belonge to you even if you think you do. Just stop paying and you will see.

EDIT: The only thing that prevents me from coming here to post more issues is the force in the forum that protects every change in evernote. It is like if I come here to say something about evernote is anoying, people here will start defending evernote reasons instead of understand what I say. It's been like that since I remember from 10 years ago.

You might be right. Anyway, I don't think Evernote will give us any option to turn off IA, so if you don't want to take the risk, the only way is to stop using Evernote (and other applications that are also using IA like Notion for example).

It's all or nothing!

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

56 minutes ago, thefryhole said:

The AI edit pop-up is driving me absolutely batty. It blocks text I'm trying to select and blocks locations where I'm trying to move text to. It seems it would work just as well behind a right click so it's quickly available (I don't use it but obviously others do) without being in the way.

This is a good suggestion. Might be good to send it to feedback@evernote.com; and/or the new Feedback and feature requests section of Evernote Help: https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=21983764539923 (you may have to log in).

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

Well, as of today (April 8), the AI Edit button is back to being a demure little circle in the middle of the editing toolbar, not a big rectangle with lots of padding before it at the right end. This is in v. 10.82.2 Windows Desktop and 10.83.5 Web client. Other matters (including annoying popup) remain as they were.

[xerox 7]

31 minutes ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Other matters (including annoying popup) remain as they were.

I hope the annoying AI popup is removed in coming days.