Thank you for your response. I have turned off Spotlight suggestions and don't use iCloud for anything except "Find My Phone" though that may be terminated soon. I want to find a way to not be part of ubiquitous feedback to advertisers or rogue actors or tech companies, even if it's allegedly privatized, and I definitely don't want some AI to "guide" me. May have to go back to Linux, Tor, et al, to regain some sense of trust in what I'm seeing on a screen.
Unless, of course, some company begins to come to its senses. Now THAT would be an innovation!
(I'm not a luddite, just a retired microprocessor design engineer who hates seeing what the tech field has become.)