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
    2023-07-18T09:42:28+00:00

    I also want to express my desire to be able to at least temporarily disable any AI programs within Microsoft Office or any Microsoft app. Working with long document and Zotero add-ins it is so slow, I can't work properly. Having a very near deadline to respect I don't want to take the risk to tweak it by removing a file on my own...

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-07-18T02:35:48+00:00

    I tried deleting the files, creating empty txt files with the same names, and changing permissions. As soon as an MS update runs the files get overwritten with the exes, etc.

    What works for me across my network is to stop ai.exe from executing with a GPO policy and blocking ai.exe using our AV package. The GPO policy has worked perfectly since early June, it doesn't require me doing anything to any of the networked machines as the policy propagates throughout the network automatically.

    Because we use a corporate AV package I added the ai.exe block policy late June following janh3's idea and found that it picks up the ai,exe attempt to execute before the GPO policy kicks in. Like the AD GPO policy all I have to do is create the policy and it sends the blocks to every machine.

    Both solutions are working for me without the need to run scheduled deletions etc. on all the machines because MS has been reinstating the files every time there's an update.

    The easiest of the methods that would work for most users would be to block it from running in AV using the full x86 & x64 path names, hopefully various users' AV packages can perform such a function.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-11T22:07:41+00:00

    Please see a recent, most recent entry I made here - a replay to another user as to the options I am aware of. You can block it... or you can deleted it on aschedule. These are solutions that three of us have developed... I know no way of disabling it from installing again after deletion. Unless the AV blocking will do so. Which isn't my solution and I haven't tried it.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-11T02:00:15+00:00

    That fix where they are deleted is improved upon later in the discussion.... but you got the files you need to get if AI isn't running with Outlook or Word running. Scheduling the deletion as a task by putting the delete commands into a batch file - created in notepad and saved as xxxx.BAT... then scheduling that to run will stop it from running for long after it gets reinstalled from Windows or Office updates... I scheduled it to run every hour. The other method is through Group Policy as long as you have Windows Pro version. The third way was to block it with your anti-virus software. Most have a way to add programs to a blocked list of sorts.

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