How to disable copilot on microsoft office (excel, word, ppt) on Macbook

...having this tool on my system represents a risk to my livelihood...

This is one of my main concerns too Elizabeth.
I write professionally as part of my work and I do not want Microsoft running their AI app in the background using my work as 'learning' content.

This should never have been added without user permission and there should be any easy 'off' or 'remove' setting.

Then there's the fact that the damn thing is so in-your-face.
If you're old enough... it's like Clippy all over again.

I wonder how corporate IT admins & execs are going to respond when they find MS has, without authorization, dropped an AI into their corporate networks...

Thanks for the suggestion but this does not work Mac users. There is not OPTIONS button in the Mac version. But thanks for sharing.

I never subscribed to the Office plan including the copilot, and now it's forced on my word docs. It's really strange, sneaky and suspicious behaviour from Microsoft. I use word for a living, and I don't want an AI assistant to be there.

I don't mind it being available to use (with a toggle to turn on and off) like any feature (like autocorrect).

Microsoft wants everyone to use it because every input trains the Large Language Model. Every time you use Copilot you're a defacto employee of Microsoft—making their product better and more valuable.

Autocorrect in Office is almost as annoying, but at least you can turn it off. But it constantly turns itself back on. It's always on by default, and in the online apps you have to turn it off every single time you use it. It's on in every office app and turns itself back on with nearly every minor update for no good reason. It just refuses to stay off. I have turned off autocorrect in Office at least a thousand times over the years and I'm not exaggerating.

Agreed. Then they need to pay me Microsoft earnings instead of my paying them.