How do I disable the "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Host [etc]" feature?

Anonymous
2023-02-09T16:34:50+00:00

We have started getting complaints from our customers over this "feature" as it appears to be quite the resource hog, and of course they are blaming our add-ins.

Killing the ai.exe process appears to have no ill effect on the usability of Office programs such as Word, Outlook or Excel.

So I need to know how we can disable it. I'd prefer to give an instruction to our users on how they can switch off a feature they do not want, they feel they do not need, and that causes their old PCs to start sounding like a Harrier Jet taking off.

Thank you

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | Other | Other

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Anonymous
2024-02-07T21:10:13+00:00

This seems to work. There are all sorts of solutions put out there that involve things like editing the Registry. Here's a much easier fix that seems to have worked for me (and this is from The Geek Page https://thegeekpage.com/how-to-disable-the-artificial-intelligence-ai-host-feature/).

First, the obvious: delete the AI executables from the OFFICE folder:
ai.exe

ai.exe
aitrx.dll

Second - this is incredibly easy. Deleting the executables does not completely work because Office automatically updates itself with new copies of those files.

Since the AI Host runs when you use an Office app:
Disable the Office app updates.

To do this, open any Office application, like Word.

– Click the “File” menu and then the “Account” menu item - this may be under the "More..." menu item, in which case click "More..." and then click "Account"

– There, click on “Update Options”, which brings up a popup menu - on the popup menu, set that to “Disable Updates” to disable Office updates for all Office apps

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-05-31T09:45:38+00:00

    Outlook appears to be using a new function to display data, called Edge Webview. I haven't looked into this in depth yet. It may be for the new Outlook look and feel, looking like outlook.com (which works really badly).

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-05-31T10:29:30+00:00

    Outlook appears to be using a new function to display data, called Edge Webview. I haven't looked into this in depth yet. It may be for the new Outlook look and feel, looking like outlook.com (which works really badly).

    I just powered up one of the old Win10 machines running Office 2016. I ran Office Updates and yes the ai.exe files were in the respective folders, but when Outlook 2016 ran there was no sign of the 10 Microsoft Edge Webview2 instances like for Outlook 2019. MS AI wasn't running either but that's probably because of the GPO block I set up earlier rather than a lack of Outlook 2016 "feature".

    It's been a few hours and none of the PCs with Outlook 2019 are showing any signs of MS AI after the GPO change but I'll keep watching this closely!

    Like you I really hate the "new Outlook" and where it seems to be heading. We didn't buy licences for software to have them convert them to an inferior pseudo-browser experience. I plan to downgrade Outlook to 2016 on all the machines.

    One thing I was really pleased with in Outlook 2016 was the apparent lack of "Reply with Scheduling Poll" button in the ribbon which reappears randomly in Outlook 2019 forcing me to remove it over and over and over. More "Great MS Progress"!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-05-31T11:28:30+00:00

    The new version is probably just a web portal. Lazy software development. I reverted.

    Weirdly for me, I rarely see the a.i. b.s.; but replacing the files didn't sort it, they were replaced in an update ~ a month ago.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-05-31T14:58:38+00:00

    Hi, i solved this by adding a key entry named ai.exe to

    *LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options*

    Inside LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ai.exe add the DWORD UseFilter with the value 1

    Inside LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ai.exe add a new key with an arbitrary name say ai.exe.path

    Inside LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ai.exe\ai.exe.path add the STRING FilterFullPath with the value of the full command line without quotation. In my case: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX64\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\ai.exe

    Inside LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ai.exe\ai.exe.path add the STRING Debugger with the value of a simple program. In my case i use the old Windows Calculator which wont start in Windows 10. The simple program just needs to be found inside the System or User path.

    I had to use this kind of approach ( https://superuser.com/users/622538/e-grechnikov) since i own the game Alien Isolation with the executable ai.exe, which won't start either if i just added the ai.exe key to Image File Execution Options.

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