How to Disable Copilot in Windows and Microsoft Edge

In this article, I will show you the steps on how to Disable Copilot in Windows and Microsoft Edge. The Microsoft Edge web browser is Chromium-based and it is compatible with all supported versions of Windows, and macOS. It offers speed, performance, best-in-class compatibility for websites and extensions, and built-in privacy and security features. Please see Bing AI-Powered Copilot: How to install Microsoft Edge on macOS, and how to disable Taskbar Web Search in Windows 10 via GPO and Windows Registry.

The Copilot with Bing Chat icon shows on the toolbar above the sidebar by default in Microsoft Edge as shown below.

It will interest you to know that Microsoft’s Copilot AI addition to Windows is based on the existing Bing AI chat capabilities based on OpenAI’s GPT4 LLM AI model.

You can hover or click on the Copilot icon or press the Ctrl + Shift +. keys to interact with the built-in AI functionality by asking questions. You will get comprehensive answers all in a side-by-side view, with no need to flip between tabs.

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Why would you want to disable Bing Chat?

The introduction of these products may pose a risk to data privacy. The Edge browser has featured Bing Chat, now called Copilot. Consumer chatbots do not only store query history but can use your data to refine their language models.

Note: Microsoft takes a stand against ChatGPT, temporarily restricting its own employees. Now, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and Purview can spot and block generative AI apps when needed. Microsoft is incorporating Copilot into Windows 11 version 23H2, and this is currently being extended to Windows 10 devices.

This feature can also be seen in the taskbar as we will see very shortly.

Here are some interesting guides: Disable Bing Search in Windows: Quick Guide for Windows, and how to Set Up and Use ChatGPT in Linux Terminal.

Completely remove Copllot (AI) on Windows

The group policy editor in Windows can be used to add or remove settings and features. You can also use the Group Policy editor to enable or disable Copilot AI in Windows.

Note: The “Turn off Windows Copilot” GPO setting enables you to turn off Copilot on Windows 11 PCs. If you disable this policy setting, users will not be able to use Copilot. The Copilot icon will not appear on the taskbar either. If you enable or do not configure this policy setting, users will be able to use Copilot.

To do this, open the Local Group Policy Editor by running the gpedit.msc command. Navigate to the location below.

			
Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot.

On the right pane, double-click on the ‘Turn off Windows Copilot‘ GPO. Select Enabled to turn off Windows Copilot

See how to make Cortana search with a different web browser instead of Bing and Edge, and how to Clear Search History on Bing Chat AI

How to Disable Copilot AI in Microsoft Edge

If you run the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Copilot AI features will be made available to you. This is enabled by default.

If you do not want to utilize this feature due to organisation policies or data privacy concerns. It is possible to disable Copilot on Microsoft Edge. You cannot remove the option of Copilot AI in Microsoft Edge altogether. You can make it vanish from your regular browser view completely.

To do this, launch the Microsoft Edge browser, click the triple dot icon from the top left corner, and open settings.

Then click on Settings. In the left pane of the settings, go to Sidebar from the left pane. Under the app-specific settings section. Click to open Copilot.

To disable Copliot AI, toggle off the Show Copilot button.

This will disable the copilot AI in Microsoft Edge and remove it from the view.

Also, as you can see from this image. The Copilot icon is associated. When we disable it, then it will no longer be visible.

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Remove the Copilot icon from the search field

Outside having Windows Copilot icon in the taskbar. To do this, launch the Settings app. Go to Privacy and Security > Search Permissions > More Settings.

Block search highlights with GPO

To disable Show search highlights, please launch group policy and navigate to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.