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

Anonymous

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

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Anonymous

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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Anonymous

2023-10-31T15:43:18+00:00

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the post, but this is completely unrelated to the problem discussed in this post. This post relates to the AI found in Microsoft Office (ai.exe, ai.dll and aimgr.exe).

Kind regards,

Paul.
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Anonymous

2023-11-02T05:31:46+00:00
I haven't found a way to prevent AI from being installed but think I have found a way to kill it when it shows up.

Create a folder called C:\Utilities\noai

Save the code below in 3 separate files
- noai.ps1
- noai-on-startup.ps1
- noai-on-login.ps1
Change the log file name in noai-on-startup.ps1 to

$file = "C:\Utilities\noai\noai-on-startup.log"

Change the log file name in noai-on-login.ps1 to

$file = "C:\Utilities\noai\noai-on-login.log"

Create 3 scheduled tasks
- 1 every 5 minutes
- 1 on restart
- 1 on login
$file = "C:\Utilities\noai\noai.log"

echo "=====================================" >> $file

$the_date = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd HH:mm"

$message = $the_date

echo $message >> $file

if((get-process "ai" -ea SilentlyContinue) -eq $Null){
```
    $message = $the\_date + " - ai.exe Not Running" 

    echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file 
```
}

else{
```
$message = $the\_date + " - AI Running - Will Kill AI" 

echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file 

Stop-Process -processname "ai" 

 

if((get-process "ai" -ea SilentlyContinue) -eq $Null){  

	$the\_date = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd HH:mm" 

	$message = $the\_date + " - ai.exe No Longer Running" 

    echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file		 

	} 

else{ 

    $message = $the\_date + " - ai.exe Still Running" 

    echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file 

} 
```
}

$the_date = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd HH:mm"

$message = $the_date

echo $message >> $file

if((get-process "aimgr" -ea SilentlyContinue) -eq $Null){
```
    $message = $the\_date + " - aimgr.exe Not Running" 

    echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file 
```
}

else{
```
$message = $the\_date + " - aimgr Running - Will Kill AI" 

echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file 

Stop-Process -processname "aimgr" 

 

if((get-process "aimgr" -ea SilentlyContinue) -eq $Null){  

	$the\_date = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd HH:mm" 

	$message = $the\_date + " - aimgr.exe No Longer Running" 

    echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file		 

	} 

else{ 

    $message = $the\_date + " - aimgr.exe Still Running" 

    echo  $message  &gt;&gt; $file 

} 
```
}

$look_for = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX64\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\ai.exe"

if(Test-Path [$look_for])

{
```
echo  "    ai.exe exists" 

Remove-Item -Path "$look\_for" -Force 
```
}

$look_for = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX64\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\ai.dll"

if(Test-Path [$look_for])

{
```
echo  "    ai.dll exists" 

Remove-Item -Path "$look\_for" -Force 
```
}

$look_for = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX64\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\aimgr.exe"

if(Test-Path [$look_for])

{
```
echo  "    aimgr.exe exists" 

Remove-Item -Path "$look\_for" -Force 
```
}

$look_for = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX64\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\aitrx.dll"

if(Test-Path [$look_for])

{
```
echo  "    aitrx.dll exists" 

Remove-Item -Path "$look\_for" -Force 
```
}

$look_for = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX64\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\mlg.dll"

if(Test-Path [$look_for])

{
```
echo  "    mlg.dll exists" 

Remove-Item -Path "$look\_for" -Force 
```
}
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Anonymous

2023-11-02T10:43:36+00:00
Excellent - thanks John.

I've also found this method which isn't quite as good as yours, but does work. The primary problem with my version is that if you want to update Office then you have to reverse the following process (though I've included instructions). This version, though, does not require any programming knowledge but does require Admin access to the PC.
1. Open Explorer and navigate to: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX64\Microsoft Shared\Office16
2. Right click the ai.exe file and select Properties.
3. Click the Security tab, then the Advanced button...
4. Click the Change link to change the owner. Change ownership to your own account.
5. Click the Disable inheritance button and copy all principals from the underlying folder. Remove all entries from the permissions list except for your own, then change your own access to Read. Note, that this is Read ONLY, not Read and Execute.
This process should be repeated for the ai.dll and aimgr.exe files.

To undo these changes, should you need to update Office, go back through each file, give yourself Full access, then Enable inheritance for the given files.

NOTES:

Since posting this response, I have discovered that the process for uninstalling Office becomes more involved. If there are failures, attempt to uninstall as best as possible, then delete what can't be removed. You may discover that there are some processes still running, particularly an XML formatter; reboot then attempt to delete again. That should allow you to reinstall.

Also, the other files may not need to be execute protected - you may just get away with the ai.exe file.
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Anonymous

2023-11-06T17:15:17+00:00

Bill Gates such a nice, philanthropic individual doing nice things for humanity, and his company screwing its loyal clients....
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