How to disable or remove Copilot from Word (there is a solution - check 2nd edit)

It looks like a great many of us want copilot turned off or at least the option to do so ourselves. I have only found it in Word this morning and I'm so annoyed by the way it appears and cannot be removed. Like everyone else here it's clear that ai tech should be a choice not forced upon users. There are many who are not interested and Microsoft should not be forcing users to work with ai to suit their own agenda. Put the investment into making Bing a better search engine instead.

I have only just updated my hardware so the option to flip to Mac isn't in the frame but after all these years Microsoft this may be where we part ways. I expect you to prioritise an update that removed this forced copilot or as a minimum allows it to be disabled. In the meantime I am now forced to use my precious time to either jump online to your chat or attempt so called work arounds - rolling back versions. And all these things predictably and consistently take too long - customers spend a heap of time researching, attempting fixes and then lengthy time online or chat. This is serving your own agenda Microsoft, not your paying customers. The ones interested in copilot are no doubt already using it. It is absolutely disgraceful that this kind of "innovation" is seen as essential in an upgrade. Is there no low that will be stooped to for the collection of information under the cloak of we're making your lives easier? Shame Microsoft.

Totally agree, geek fantasy....let us chose

I agree exactly, thanks for alternative suggestion.

I've now cancelled my subscription over this issue and moved over to LibreOffice - after using it regularly for the last 10 days I can report that the transition is really not that painful. There are some differences to be sure, but it's nice to use a software that puts you in control of the UX, rather than Microsoft's top-down approach.