If you’re like me, you’re starting to find AI to be an exhausting topic. It feels like every single company is trying to cram AI into everything we use, from search engines to OSes to even simple refrigerators! Who needs an AI smart fridge? What began as a promising addition that mostly stayed out of the way is increasingly becoming a distraction.
Windows 11 is particularly egregious, with Microsoft’s AI copilot being shoved into the taskbar, File Explorer, Edge, even Notepad, and it feels like your computer is more of a tech display for Microsoft’s investors than something that’s there for your own use. The forced AI integration takes up a ton of resources and slows your computer down as well, which can be even more frustrating given the rapidly rising costs of computer components in 2026. If performance is a priority for you, check out our guide on secret Windows settings that will help speed up your PC.
This guide will show you how to remove Copilot and All AI From Windows 11 so you have a cleaner OS experience.
Remove All AI with RemoveWindowsAI
Because Microsoft has embedded AI so deep into the OS, you can’t really just toggle a setting and turn them all off. Moreover, Windows will automatically re-enable the settings in their next update anyways. Luckily, some programming savvy internet users agree with you and cooked up a special Powershell script that can disable, hide, and remove Copilot and other related AI features.
For reference, here are some of the things that RemoveWindowsAI will do:
- Disable the reinstallation of AI features through Windows Update.
- Disable Input Insights and the collection of typing data.
- Copilot in Edge.
- Image creator in Paint.
- Remove the AI Fabric service.
- Disable AI actions.
- Disable AI in Paint.
- Disable voice access.
- Turn off AI voice effects.
- Disable AI in settings search.
Are you convinced? Well, here’s a step by step guide on how to use RemoveWindowsAI.
- Open PowerShell as Administrator. You can do this by clicking the Window key on your keyboard, clicking on the search bar, and entering “Powershell” without the quotes. Right click on the result and run it as administrator.
- Paste this command into the console without quotes and hit enter: “& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm ‘https://kutt.it/RWAI‘)))”. This will download and launch the tool.
- Your Antivirus may flag the script. This is normal, as antiviruses generally tend to flag any script that will modify the Windows registry or system files. If you trust the tool, you’ll need to temporarily pause your protection or add an exclusion. As each antivirus program is different, we can’t provide a guide to this. As I’m only using Windows Defender for protection, I can skip this step.
- A window with a simple GUI will pop up. Here, you’ll see a ton of different options to pick from. By default, all of the options will be selected. I recommend you click the ? Button next to each of them and read thoroughly what they do instead of just removing everything at once.
- Once the process is complete, restart your computer so the changes take hold.
If you don’t restart your computer, then the registry keys that the script changed has the potential to come back and undo all your work.
Extra for Removing AI in Windows 11
If you don’t want to risk running scripts, you can still reduce the amount of AI you run into manually, although it’s nearly impossible to be as thorough as the script would be. Keep in mind a lot of these options are covered by the script.
1. Remove Copilot From Notepad
Even Notepad has had AI integrated into it. It will now start to try to learn your writing style and rewrite your text and change your tone. Needless to say, this isn’t usually appreciated.
To turn off AI from notepad, simply click on the gear icon in Notepad to access its settings, and turn off Copilot. This will stop it from suggesting “improvements” every time you select text, restoring Notepad’s iconic simplicity. This is included in RemoveWindowsAI, but the manual option is here.
2. Disable functions on Copilot+ PCs
Some newer devices are branded as Copilot+ PCs because they include dedicated hardware designed to run AI locally rather than relying entirely on the cloud like most AI we think of do. The key difference is that because it’s built into the hardware directly, it’s impossible to fully remove Copilot. However, you can disable enough AI features for it to feel like a normal computer. Unfortunately, you almost certainly need to run the script to do so, and double check anything it might have missed:
- Even the Game Bar uses something called Gaming Copilot now. If you want to remove Copilot from Gamebar, open it up and go to its settings, then navigate to Widgets to turn it off.
- OneDrive scans your photo in the cloud for faces. Disable this by going to the OneDrive website, opening your settings, and navigating to the People section.
- If your device supports Studio Effects, you can disable it by pressing WIn+A, navigating to the studio effects tile, and set all of the effects to off.
- Disable Recall, as it’s one of the biggest AI features unique to Copilot+ hardware. This makes AI constantly analyze your screen. Go to Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Recall. Turn Recall off here and delete existing Recall data.
What you can’t remove are the NPU runtime, the AI frameworks, and some background AI that will stay dormant but present. Also keep in mind that future updates may reintroduce features.
3. Reinstall Old Windows Apps or Use Alternatives
You can also just avoid using all the new versions of the apps that come with AI built in instead of going through all that hassle to remove Copilot. You can navigate to https://win7games.com and downlaod various classic tools there, like Wordpad, Classic Notepad, Classic Paint, and more.
You can also use alternatives such as the infinitely more powerful Notepad++ instead of Notepad or using a browser that uses either optional AI like Firefox, or no AI like Vivaldi.
Click here to download Notepad++. Click here to download Firefox. And finally, click here to get Vivaldi.
You could also use the DuckDuckGo Browser that focuses fully on privacy. We have a guide on exactly what it does right here.
Remove AI to Unclutter Your Computer
It’s important to remember that AI can actually be immensely helpful. Some jobs, like accounting, have seen massive increases in productivity thanks to AI, and things like that make sure that AI will never fully go away. However, the problem right now is that they’re constantly being forced into things that they just aren’t very good at, and how Windows 11 handles it really highlights that.
Does Notepad really need AI? Does Game Bar? Does your webcam need to have AI handle the background? Do you really need AI to be constantly scanning your screen or your face doing god knows what? If you think the answer to any of those questions is no, then we hope that this guide has helped you out.
