You can't turn off Copilot in the web versions of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint

Microsoft just confirmed the web versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint don’t have an off switch for Copilot—yes, the AI assistant stays on. Desktop folks can hit an "Enable Copilot" checkbox per app (if you’re on the latest versions), and Outlook has its own toggle. You can even hide the Copilot icon on the ribbon, but that doesn’t actually turn it off. Want no AI at all? Microsoft points to other plans without Copilot. Their responsible AI spiel is here if you’re curious: Microsoft’s docs.

The internet’s reaction? A full-blown office soap opera. The hype crew drops a smug "Future is now, old man," while the anti-AI crowd is slamming the desk and asking for a giant OFF button, ideally with regulation attached. One commenter dragged OneDrive into it—“try going there if you want to be really annoyed”—and another roasted Teams for forcing a "Pin Copilote" tab even when a company doesn’t have the feature, calling it aggressive. The nostalgia memes are flying: people want to flood Support until Microsoft "removes Clippy Clanker" like they did with the original paperclip. The biggest takeaway: users don’t want AI glued into their everyday docs without consent. The drama is less about features, more about control—and Microsoft just poked that bear.