Microsoft has released a couple of AI-based features/functionalities in Windows 11 and 10. Currently, it is available as “Preview” with limited capabilities in select regions. Some more context about Copilot for those who are not aware about it:

What is Windows Co-pilot?

Let’s understand this first with some history. Microsoft is one of the major shareholder in OpenAI- the creator of ChatGPT models. Post the fame of LLM, chatbots and Gen-AI, Microsoft decided to set up it’s own GPT instances and infuse AI in some of it’s functionalities and products like in Bing Search or in Quick Search. It let’s you give text based commands like turn on dark mode or search for flight details etc.

Why you should disable Co-pilot?

There is one big reason, you may want to not use these products, till countries/governments release some laws to protect individual rights and IP (intellectual property) and that is PRIVACY. According to Microsoft’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, it not only captures your data but also may sell it to third-parties or use it for development of their services.

Use of Your Content. As part of providing the AI services, Microsoft will process and store your inputs to the service as well as output from the service, for purposes of monitoring for and preventing abusive or harmful uses or outputs of the service. ~ Terms of Service under AI services (iv)

Privacy Policy is a bit long because it covers all products under Micrsoft but TL;DR or key points can be found here

If you do have time, I would recommend going through atleast the AI section (Search, Microsoft Edge, and artificial intelligence) since Microsoft is coming up with new AI features.

Why does it matter that some data they may collect?

A lot of people believe their information is not that important enough because they may not be famous or may not have anything to hide so it’s not an issue if any company accesses their data. But it matters and some day-to day examples of why:

• your data is used by companies usually to market their product in a way that it appeals to you. Instead of ensuring quality and good products, it’s more about trying to trying to generate sales and profit. They may also sell the different types of data from your devices, networks and devices to other companies leading to exploitation. Some Facebook/Meta related examples:

  • Recently, court documents were unsealed as part of a major anti-trust lawsuit filed in U.S. claim Netflix and Facebook “enjoyed a special relationship” so that Netflix could better tailor its ads with Facebook involving millions of dollars.
  • In 2018, the New York Times published a report citing hundreds of pages of Facebook documents, alleging Facebook had authorized Spotify and Netflix to access users’ DMs. PS: Microsoft did say they may sell/share your data with third-parties.

• in some AI apps, such as self-driving cars, have the ability to track your location and driving habits to help the car understand its surroundings and act accordingly. While this technology may help make cars safer and smarter, it also opens more opportunities for your personal information to become part of a larger data set that can be tracked across different devices in your home, work, or public spaces.

• your images (even just a selfie in which you’re fully clothed) may be used to generate porn or for revenge porn without your knowledge or permission.

• data scraped from the internet using tools may memorize personal information about people, as well as relational data about their family and friends. This data helps enable spear-phishing—the deliberate targeting of people for purposes of identity theft or fraud. Already, bad actors are using AI voice cloning to impersonate people and then extort them over good old-fashioned phones.

How do I disable Co-pilot?

I would have to admit, Microsoft has not made this easy with not providing an option to opt-out of this preview or even by not being transparent regarding removal options. Also, enabling features that collect personal data in an update without letting users explicitly know about the same. But fortunately, the steps to follow are easy:

• Remove it from the Taskbar (doesn’t remove Copilot completely) Go to Setting -> Personalization -> Taskbar -> Toggle of Copilot

2. Use Registry Editor to disable it for all users (again doesn’t disable Copilot completely, it will still run as background process)

   • Go to Registry Editor
   • Using Ctrl + F find the TurnOffWindowsCopilot section.
   • We need to update the REG_DWORD from 0 to 1 to run this function. To do that you can either manually change the values or create a text file and add this code from Shawn Brink:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]
"TurnOffWindowsCopilot"=dword:0000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]
"TurnOffWindowsCopilot"=dword:0000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge]
"HubsSidebarEnabled"=dword:0000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"DisableSearchBoxSuggestions"=dword:0000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"DisableSearchBoxSuggestions"=dword:0000001

What does this code do ? Well essentially we’re updating the configuration information that the OS has. The HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU) registry hive stores configuration information specific to the current/logged-in user. The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) registry hive holds most of the configuration data for Windows OS itself and it’s software.

3. Finally, we can use gedit or Group Policy Editor to remove the Co-Pilot Bundle. This completely removes Co-Pilot from your system.
   • Search gedit or run gedit.msc file to open Group Policy Editor.
   • Follow the path: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot
   • In the Windows Copilot folder, double click Turn Off Windows Copilot. In the pop-up, choose the Enabled button and apply the changes.

References:

1. https://www.elevenforum.com/t/completely-disable-and-remove-copilot-in-windows-11.23264/
2. https://www.laptopmag.com/software/how-to-turn-off-copilot-in-windows-11-keep-it-ai-free
3. https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/software/how-disable-copilot-in-windows-11