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

Have installed Ubuntu, my smile is getting bigger by the minute. Have converted some of my spreadsheets into Google Sheets and LibreOffice will perform admirably for word processing I believe. Sayonara Microsoft, I doubt you will be missed.

I ended up like the OP and rolling back to an older version of Office software from this link. I disconnected from the internet once I started installing the software to make sure it didn't start auto-updating... You can turn auto update off for all Office software by opening Word, Help, Check for Updates

I also found this article from the Verge saying that this "auto-bundling" of AI Copilot **** is a limited roll out to a few countries - Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Appears no one was paying for the Copilot Pro add on, so they've just automatically added it to existing subscriptions AND put up the price - straight up "opt-out" evil. My 365 Family plan had automatically been "upgraded" to include Copilot, BUT the cost had also gone up by NZD$50 per year. I had to go into my account and actively switch back to the plan I signed up for, which is now called "family Classic" and is NZD$179/y vs NZ$229 for the version with the AI I don't want... Needless to say I went back to "Family Classic", however that new subscription, without Copilot, doesn't start till next March. So for now, I still need to run the older out of date versions and not do any updates.

Where did you find Family Classic?

I am in Australia and I can’t see how to change from Family when I am logged into my account.

Ryan, this is a very poor approach by Microsoft. They should stop with these forced adoptions, and stop assuming everyone thinks they're great, desirable, etc. I consider Edge, One Drive and Co-pilot bloatware, because they have nothing to do with what MS originally set out to do, i.e., provide a solidly reliable and secure platform for users to mount whatever other software they want to operate with.

Frankly, my observation is that the more software like Edge, One Drive, and Co-pilot MS integrates into Windows, the less reliable and secure Windows has become. I think the Windows package as become so big that it can no longer be adequately monitored to prevent glitches, and these days there seem to be a constant occurance of these.

If MS wants to integrate extra software into Windows, fine, but they should present them as options that require the user during update installations to actively choose to install them. The default position should be that these types of software are not installed unless a user ticks for them to be included.

If MS has integrated this software to the extent that the latest versions of Windows cannot be installed without them, then MS should provide a clean version of Windows and its other software, e.g., Word, etc., that does not include Edge, One Drive, Co-pilot, etc., and they should maintain the offer of this clean version, with updates when required, although I suspect a clean version of Windows would require far less frequent updates which would also be a good thing.

Regards, Peter Burges

Thanks Kit. Pretty sad state of affairs! I am in Brisbane and rang the Microsoft office here. "do you require help with CoPilot" They must know nobody wants it. The robot on the other end of the line gives out a web address where you can post questions - but no actual advice. I am not IT savvy, so will likely have to get someone to "wind it back" for me. and as you say, Microsoft jack the subscription up but offer no usable support for the ordinary customer.