I agree with you Walrus. It's even more than just bloating out an app with unasked for features - it's about the issue of AI and the politics that surround it, plus the lack of control over it. Why must everybody be forced into AI? The response by Sjmanning is devoid of any concern about the invalidity of forcing spyware on people. Essentially, the AI feature is spyware in disguise. Who's to say it's not reading your documents even if you have it disabled (versus completely removed). I suspect it is still capable of spying, even though the icon is not visible in the ribbon anymore. Then there is the highly annoying "disabled icon" hovering in every Word document, following your cursor around like a pesky mosquito on the page.
Of course people love this AI feature, for the writing it can do for them. And for that they are willing to pay the price of giving up control over their own documents and privacy. However, there are people who do NOT appreciate that. And it behooves them to be vocal about it. Sjmanning wants to stifle these opinions. Why? What's his vested interest in this AI stuff? Where are the cogent responses by Microsoft about this fraudulent issue?
It's fraud MS is committing, fraud in the sense that they appropriate your writing without your consent! And I'm paying for this software! If MS feels that they are entitled to appropriate my writing, why do they want me to pay for their software? The issue is quite serious, and I'm taking the time to write about it, because it is important to share these things with the community that uses word MS processing software for their work or private matters. This issue is completely sidestepping any privacy protocols. We should take them to court.