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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240 additional answers

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

2023-10-31T15:43:18+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

2023-10-03T19:59:19+00:00

i wish to just remove it from my system. it doesn't help and is getting pushy. sooner or later it will shut us down.
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Anonymous

2023-09-23T03:22:09+00:00

I did this then and it seemed to work, however the a.i. monster reared it's ugly head again today.
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