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
    2023-06-01T01:16:13+00:00

    I have a couple of ideal AD domains I can try a GP mod on. Also just to satisfy my desire to see this stopped, run a script out of GP - maybe a startup script - to delete the ancillary files... or include ai.exe as well...

    If it can be automated then we don't have to worry about schedules...

    It may be a day or so before I can dedicate to that... lets stay in touch on this,

    Well day 2 of the AD GPO adjustment and it looks like it's working as desired. Of course will continue to check daily for the lack of AI Host in processes.

    Here's a screengrab of the settings I applied, they could also be used on any non-AD machine with the local group policy editor. The nice thing about this is that it only prohibits execution of ai.exe from the specified paths, so any other package that calls a totally different ai.exe will not be impacted.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-05-31T16:29:25+00:00

    A big enough "stink" needs to be made of it - the word has to get out. I haven't researched to find if this has become any kind of topic being discussed or any talk of actions to force change at MS... do you have any sources? Is there any agency going after this? MS was sued years ago with imposing Internet Explorer on users - where other browsers, namely AOL, were disabled of affected purposely on Windows machines.... (or "something" like that), NetScape I believe was the other.... its been a long time... but they lost that one and had to remove their interference...

    Maybe we need a lawsuit...

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-05-31T00:24:23+00:00

    Thanks for this suggestion, this is the path I've taken ... rename the originals, create 0byte txt files, then copy the txt files as respective exe/dlls.

    Two extra steps I took was to disable permission inheritance on each of the four files in ProgramFilesCommonX86 and make "System" Read/Execute only by removing Full Control, Modify and Write permissions, and remove System completely in ProgramFilesCommonX64.

    Did this on 19/5/23 and ai.exe has not been running since but I'll wait for some Windows & Office updates to run to see if stopping or removing System from writing over the txt files will have the desired effect.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-05-30T18:08:47+00:00

    Instead of deleteing the ai.exe, ai.dll, aimgr.exe, and aitrx.dll. I opted to add '.bak" after the file name extension. I have not seen them running since doing this. Window update has not changed it. Office 2016 update does reinstall it. This might be worth a try between Office updates

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