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
    2023-07-10T23:54:52+00:00

    You need to talk to Microsoft. I am just another afflicted and pissed off user... though there are three of us who have posted the means for you to remove it or disallow it from running. Start reading from page two.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-07-08T05:48:12+00:00

    If the AV program can block specific paths and not just blanket ai.exe, this could work. Another user here mentioned a game he regularly used also called ai.exe and his workaround avoided the blocking of that package.

    But this is an interesting angle - I'll dig into my domain AV management to see if this can be similarly implemented.

    So far it looks like we have three solutions - scheduled deletions, GPO and AV blocking

    Updating my on-going investigations with AD GPO and AV blocking ...

    On 25 June I implemented blocking rules in our AV control centre to block any instance of ai.exe in both the x64 and x86 Office16 paths. While the GPO seemed to halt the execution of ai.exe, interestingly the AV must jump in before that since the AV control centre shows ongoing instances of blocking the execution since 25 June. Partial screencap below.

    I'm happy with the AD GPO + AV solutions, it looks like AV blocking is likely to be the simplest way to prevent ai.exe running for users without GPO Policy capability.

    Image

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-05T10:11:20+00:00

    Don't feel bad about the rant! I agree they're doing all this stuff without asking users if they actually want or need it. All we can do is try to figure out a workaround.

    Thankfully it looks like my AD GPO policy has worked a treat for me, it's been about a month with various updates and I can't see any trace of ai.exe running while Outlook or other Office programs are open.

    I'll start asking clients if they're as weirded out about ai.exe as I am and if so I can implement the GPO policies there too.

    The other recent frustration is the appearance of "Reply with Scheduling Poll", "Share to Teams" and "Send to OneNote" buttons in the ribbon that I just can't get rid of. Customise Ribbon, remove them and voila, they're gone ... until they decide they want to come back on their own.

    If you're experiencing the same please <removed>, please upvote here and encourage anyone else to vote if they also hate those buttons.

    https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/d02d2609-f6ee-ed11-a81c-0022484f9f6d

    All these useless new buttons in Outlook but they remove the useful features like the ribbon with "New Folder" etc., in Windows 11 Explorer ..<removed>

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