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
    2023-05-31T01:42:27+00:00

    You should probably do the same for the x86 folder as well. I see what your doing, it might work. You can manually do the Office and MS updates instead of waiting as well... I don't have any patience, I wouldn't be able to wait.

    Yeah ... didn't work. After the manual update the files were restored.

    Looks like we'll have to run regular checks and deletions as per scripts.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-05-31T01:08:17+00:00

    You should probably do the same for the x86 folder as well. I see what your doing, it might work. You can manually do the Office and MS updates instead of waiting as well... I don't have any patience, I wouldn't be able to wait.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-05-30T21:19:28+00:00

    I had an Office update and it did reinstall the files. I deleted the files I had added the '.bak' to and then added the '.bak' to the new files. It worked fine for me until the office update.

    To be quite frank with you I am getting tired of Microsoft making changes that either make things more difficult for users or changes that frustrate/infuriate users. Seriously thinking of changing to a complete Linux based OS and dumping Windows. I have tried it on a stick drive and found it easy to use. There are plenty of open source programs that I would use as well.

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