Microsoft recently introduced the Copilot AI feature to Windows, which utilizes the capabilities of Bing AI chat to provide the same experience in the Windows operating system without using the Microsoft Edge browser directly. While the feature might be good, not all of us may have it available to us just yet, and so, in this article, we will tell you how to enable or disable Copilot AI in Windows and Edge.
What Is Copilot AI In Windows? What All Can It Do?
Microsoft’s Copilot AI is the newest feature addition to Windows, which utilizes the existing Bing AI chat capabilities based on OpenAI’s GPT4 LLM AI model. With this, you can ask almost anything, and it will use the power of generative AI and Bing’s data to provide you with the most precise and complete results. It can also interact with and generate images. With Copilot AI, the possibilities are endless.
The feature sits nicely in the taskbar and, when opened, is pinned to the right side of the screen, shrinking the other window a little. You can use the Co-pilot AI with any app without switching back and forth between your Edge browser window.
Well, now that you know a lot about Copilot AI in Windows, let’s learn how to enable or disable Copilot AI in Windows.
Read: Best AI Tools That Can Generate Images Based on Text
How to Enable or Disable Copilot AI in Microsoft Edge
If you are on the latest and updated version of Microsoft Edge, you will have the Copilot AI feature there. You might need to enable it from the settings. If you have the feature and don’t wish to use it or even see it, you can disable Copilot Edge. You cannot remove the option of Copilot AI in Microsoft Edge altogether. You can make it vanish from your regular browser view completely.
- Open Microsoft Edge, click the triple dot icon from the top left corner, and open settings.
- In the left pane of the settings, go to Sidebar from the left pane, then in the app-specific settings section, open Copilot.
- To disable Copliot AI, toggle off the Show Copilot option. This will disable the copilot AI in Microsoft Edge and remove it from the view. You can also choose to disable the rest of the Copilot integrations.
- If you enable all 4, it will enable the Copilot AI in Microsoft Edge and ensure its smooth functioning.
How to Enable or Disable Copilot AI in Windows
While Enabling Copilot AI in Windows is a straightforward process, disabling it might not be as straightforward. In this section, we will look at a few methods to enable or disable copilot AI in Windows. Here’s all that’s covered.
- Using Taskbar Settings
- Using Group Policy Editor
- Using Command Prompt
Let’s look at each of these methods in detail to enable Copilot on Windows 11.
1] Using Taskbar Settings
The option to access Copilot AI can be found in the Windows Taskbar. Hence, you can enable or disable the Copilot AI option in Taskbar settings. Here’s how to do it:
- Right-click on your taskbar and click on Taskbar settings.
- You will see the Copilot option in the Taskbar items section of the Taskbar settings.
- Toggle the Copilot option to enable the Copilot AI in Windows or vice versa.
While this method allows you to enable the Copilot AI in Windows, disabling using this method does not remove the feature but merely from the taskbar. Follow the other two methods to remove the feature from the Taskbar settings.
2] Using Group Policy Editor
The group policy editor in Windows can add or remove settings and features. You can also use the Group Policy editor to enable or disable Copilot AI in Windows. Here’s how to do it:
- Press the Windows+R Keys on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
- In the run dialog box, type gpedit.msc and hit enter.
- Now, in the Group Policy editor, go the following path from the left pane:
Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration>Administartive Templates > Start Menu And Taskbar > Hide The Copilot Button
- Now, double-click to open the Hide The Copilot Button option. In the following window, change the status from Not Specified to Enabled.
- Press OK and apply to save the settings. This will hide the copilot button from the Taskbar.
- To re-enable, follow steps 1 to 4, and then, instead of Enabled, change the status to Disabled.
3] Using Command Prompt
The command prompt in Windows can be used to execute commands to modify settings, which the user otherwise may not be able to do from Windows settings or the Control panel. Here’s how to use Command Prompt to enable or Disable Copilot in Windows:
- Open the Windows start menu and search for CMD. Right-click the first result and select Run as Adminstartor.
- After opening the elevated command prompt, paste the following command and press Enter:
reg add HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot /v TurnOffWindowsCopilot /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
- This will create a registry entry that will remove the Copilot option altogether. To finalize the changes, sign out and log in to your Windows.
- If you wish to enable Copilot AI in an elevated command prompt, paste the following command and press enter:
reg delete HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot /f
Conclusion:
In this article, we learned how to enable or disable Copilot AI in Windows and Edge. You can altogether remove the option from your PC using a few workarounds. If you are on Windows 11 and still haven’t received the Copilot AI feature, please ensure you have the latest updates of Windows installed on your PC. We hope you found the article to be insightful. Please make sure that you share it with everyone.
