AI has its uses, but that doesn't mean you want it to pop up every time you write a sentence. Since a recent update to Microsoft Edge, a 'Rewrite with Copilot' option appears if you select editable text on-screen.
This is annoying at the least, but it's also affected my work in some minor ways, with pages I've used for years (like the Blogger 'new post' editor) suddenly reacting differently depending on whether or not the Rewrite with Copilot pop-up appears.
Generally speaking, I do not want things popping up in front of text editors while I'm working, or to have to make extra keyboard presses or mouse clicks to dismiss them - so how do you turn off 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Microsoft Edge?
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| 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Edge while I was editing this post. |
Luckily, it's easy to disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' in MS Edge. Unfortunately, it's in a really weird place in the Edge Settings page.
How to make Microsoft Edge disable 'Rewrite with Copilot'
If you've already tried to make Microsoft Edge disable 'Rewrite with Copilot', you've likely discovered that searching the Settings page for 'Copilot' doesn't help. There are also no results if you search for 'rewrite'.
So, where is the Rewrite with Copilot 'disable' button hiding? Here's what you'll need to do:
- Open the Edge Settings page (ways to do this are listed below).
- Click on 'Languages' (about 2/3rds down the left-hand menu, on desktop).
- Turn off 'Use Compose (AI-writing) on the web'.
As soon as you toggle the setting off, it should disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Edge completely, including any existing tabs you have open - you should not need to reopen any open tabs.
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| Look under 'Writing assistance' on the 'Languages' tab |
In this screenshot, you can see 'Use Compose (AI-writing) on the web' just below the 'Writing assistance' heading. Click the blue toggle at the right-hand side to turn this off, and it should disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' pop-ups immediately.
(I use 'dark mode' because it's easier on my eyes after hours of looking at my screen, so your colour scheme might look different, but the option should still be in the same place, subject to any future MS Edge updates.)
How to open Edge Settings
There are a few ways to open the Edge Settings page to disable Rewrite with Copilot:
- Click on the ... button at the top-right of Microsoft Edge and click 'Settings' from the dropdown list OR
- Press Alt+E or Alt+F on your keyboard to open the Settings and More menu and then click 'Settings' OR
- Type edge://settings/languages into your address bar and hit enter
Option 3 above will link you directly to the Languages page, where you can scroll down to 'Writing assistance' to turn off Rewrite with Copilot forever.
Why does it matter?
Generally speaking, I like MS Edge. It's always been more stable on my computer(s) compared with Chrome, which eats more and more memory until it crashes. Your experience might be different - I'm not saying Edge is definitively the better browser, I just like it more.
So it's problematic to see Copilot forced into more and more parts of an otherwise pretty sleek browser. Even though I've found the Rewrite with Copilot disable button, that code is still in the browser, bloating it and slowing it down. And who knows when a future update will turn it back on, perhaps without an 'off' button??
As a professional freelance writer for website content, I sometimes need to work directly into an online text editor, e.g. right now while writing this Blogger post, or when working directly on a client's WordPress blog or ecommerce website.
Maybe I'm a niche example, but I don't want AI popping up every time I select some text on-screen. I don't think this is just because it's new; I can't imagine I would ever find an intrusive pop-up useful.
At least, for now, it's still possible to make MS Edge disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' pop-ups quite easily, even if they've put the button in a daft place.
Thoughts on AI co-writing
Personally I don't use AI to 'help' with my writing for clients. I have found it useful in extremely niche circumstances, to help find obscure source material that just wasn't coming up in a regular Google or Bing search. I think that says more about the present-day state of search engines than it does about the usefulness of AI.
I don't trust AI to be accurate or to cite its sources correctly. I don't like that AI 'tone of voice' and although I'm not saying I could pick an AI-generated page out of a pile every time, I do think there's an uncanny valley thing going on with a lot of AI phrasing.
Totally honestly, it's no faster for me to use AI than to write the content from scratch myself, and what you get from me will be better overall without any AI involved - so for now, I don't use it at all in my paid work unless you absolutely want me to.
Hopefully this page has helped anyone stuck with how to disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Edge, so however you feel about AI, you don't have to deal with an annoying pop-up every time you select some text.
(A fun final thought - while getting the screenshots for this post, I turned Rewrite with Copilot back on and then forgot to disable it again, so you can imagine my joy moments later when it popped up yet again as soon as I highlighted some text...)
