By Andy Edser

Copyright pcgamer

Skip to main content

Close main menu

THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES

View Profile

Search PC Gamer

PC Gaming Show

Movies & TV

Affiliate links

Meet the team

Community guidelines

About PC Gamer

PC Gamer Magazine Subscription

Why subscribe?

Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming mag
Try a single issue or save on a subscription
Issues delivered straight to your door or device

From£35.99Subscribe now

Borderlands 4
Essential Hardware

Battlefield 6

Don’t miss these

Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant can now optionally see your entire desktop—maybe it will be able to finally explain what Windows error code 0x8007002c means

Microsoft rolls out ‘experimental’ AI mode for the Edge browser you can ask to spy on all your internetting and lend a helping hand. Yikes!

Microsoft launches Copilot AI function in Excel, but warns not to use it in ‘any task requiring accuracy or reproducibility’

Gaming Industry
‘AI is no longer optional’: Microsoft is allegedly pressuring employees to use AI tools through manager evaluations

Bing’s latest ‘just doing Bing things’: Searching for certain AI models in Microsoft’s Edge browser earns you a plea to use Copilot

Microsoft’s beta Gaming Copilot AI is now available for Xbox Insiders, to ‘help you get to gameplay faster, sharpen your skills, and be there when you need it and out of the way when you don’t’

Elon Musk claims to be making Microsoft competitor named Macrohard and despite the ‘tongue-in-cheek name’, the project is unfortunately ‘very real’

X’s latest terrible idea allows AI chatbots to propose community notes—you’ll likely start seeing them in your feed later this month

I don’t want to hear a another peep about the ‘AI future’ until they make multi monitor support not suck

Kiss goodbye to your keyboard and mouse, in Microsoft’s vision for the Windows OS in 2030 they’ll both ‘feel as alien as it does for Gen Z to use DOS’

Gaming Industry
Microsoft CEO consoles employees by saying recent layoffs are down to ‘the enigma of success in an industry that has no franchise value’

OpenAI just launched its new ChatGPT Agent that can make as many as 1 complicated cupcake order per hour, but even Sam Altman says you probably shouldn’t trust it for ‘high-stakes uses’

‘Microsoft became miserably incompetent in IT’ says the developer of an Office alternative as their account is blocked, later filing an appeal ‘which they didn’t care to answer’

Microsoft’s CEO of artificial intelligence believes advocating for ‘rights, model welfare and even AI citizenship’ will become ‘a dangerous turn in AI progress’

Former Google exec says AI’s going to lead to a ‘short-term dystopia’ because the idea it will create new jobs for the ones it’s replacing is ‘100% crap’

Microsoft announces it will automatically install the Copilot AI app alongside desktop versions of 365 products like Word, Excel and PowerPoint this October—and it seems like there’s no way for personal users to opt out

Andy Edser

17 September 2025

Don’t want it? Time to switch office suite providers, then.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

I’ve found that Microsoft Copilot splits opinion pretty evenly, in my casual conversations with unfortunate members of the public. While many begrudge the addition of AI tools into their daily lives, some find it very useful for summarising documents and spreadsheets, and helping them out with the odd bit of busywork.

Well, that last group should be particularly pleased with Microsoft’s latest Copilot announcement, as the app is said to be installing alongside most desktop versions of Microsoft’s 365 suite of apps next month—whether you like it or not.
“Starting in October 2025, Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices that have Microsoft 365 desktop client apps,” says MS in a message center update, according to Bleeping Computer.

Related Articles

Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant can now optionally see your entire desktop—maybe it will be able to finally explain what Windows error code 0x8007002c means

Microsoft rolls out ‘experimental’ AI mode for the Edge browser you can ask to spy on all your internetting and lend a helping hand. Yikes!

Microsoft launches Copilot AI function in Excel, but warns not to use it in ‘any task requiring accuracy or reproducibility’

“This app provides a centralized entry point for accessing Copilot experiences and AI-powered capabilities across Microsoft 365. This change simplifies access to Copilot and ensures users can easily discover and engage with productivity-enhancing features.”

System admins can prevent the automatic install, but it looks like there’s currently no way for personal users to do the same—although systems inside the European Economic Area appear to be excluded from the update.

(Image credit: Microsoft)
Still, I hope the rest of you MS 365 users are ready to engage with some AI-based productivity enhancement, because it looks like the app might be heading your way regardless. You may have seen this coming, given that Microsoft rebranded the 365 app to the “Microsoft 365 Copilot app” at the start of the year, but nevertheless, here we are.
Microsoft seems to have been on a big push in recent months to integrate Copilot into all and sundry, including pushing it into Microsoft Edge as an “experimental feature” back in July—although for what its worth, it was purely an opt-in or opt-out affair. I can’t imagine that the latest announcement of the app’s forced installation will go down well with Microsoft 365 users, as they’ve already had to contend with a 43% price hike as a result of its inclusion in Personal and Family plans earlier this year.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
It’s also not exactly the sort of behaviour that inspires goodwill towards a new feature, is it? I would say that if your userbase really, really wants a product, you don’t necessarily have to force it on them—and I’d also posit that this sort of mandatory installation technique doesn’t speak well of Copilot’s adoption among users as a whole.
Still, you get a whole 15 AI credits per month with the subscription, so if you’re the sort of person who finds Copilot useful, this might not be particularly big news. For those of you who simply want to type the odd document and view the odd spreadsheet free from AI-involvement, though, and without Microsoft’s AI app cluttering up your machine, it’s a pretty bum deal.
Is this the point where I mention that the completely-free LibreOffice alternatives to all these 365 apps exist, and they’re actually pretty good? Yep, I thought as much. Do with that information as you will.

Best gaming rigs 2025All our favorite gear

1. Best gaming laptop: Razer Blade 16
2. Best gaming PC: HP Omen 35L
3. Best handheld gaming PC: Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS ed.
4. Best mini PC: Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT
5. Best VR headset: Meta Quest 3

👉Check out our list of guides👈

Hardware Writer

Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn’t—and he hasn’t stopped since. Now working as a hardware writer for PC Gamer, Andy spends his time jumping around the world attending product launches and trade shows, all the while reviewing every bit of PC gaming hardware he can get his hands on. You name it, if it’s interesting hardware he’ll write words about it, with opinions and everything.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant can now optionally see your entire desktop—maybe it will be able to finally explain what Windows error code 0x8007002c means

Microsoft rolls out ‘experimental’ AI mode for the Edge browser you can ask to spy on all your internetting and lend a helping hand. Yikes!

Microsoft launches Copilot AI function in Excel, but warns not to use it in ‘any task requiring accuracy or reproducibility’

‘AI is no longer optional’: Microsoft is allegedly pressuring employees to use AI tools through manager evaluations

Bing’s latest ‘just doing Bing things’: Searching for certain AI models in Microsoft’s Edge browser earns you a plea to use Copilot

Microsoft’s beta Gaming Copilot AI is now available for Xbox Insiders, to ‘help you get to gameplay faster, sharpen your skills, and be there when you need it and out of the way when you don’t’

Latest in Software

Good news for Windows handhelds: Microsoft is now letting you launch installed Steam, Battle.net, and other storefront games from the Xbox app

15 ransomware gangs announce mass retirement so they can enjoy ‘golden parachutes’ worth millions and ‘go gentle into that good night’

This tiny version of Windows 11 fits into just 2.29 GB and is ‘extremely aggressive’ in removing bloat such as Xbox, Solitaire and Defender

Five new Steam games you probably missed (September 15, 2025)

‘Microsoft has become like an arsonist selling firefighting services to their victims’ says US senator, referring it to the FTC for a cybersecurity flaw, though Microsoft says it has a plan

The deflating realization that a neat little game was AI all along

Latest in News

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s DLC clans are no longer DLC clans: ‘Lasombra and Toreador belong in the base game, so that is what we are doing’

Battlefield 6 has done away with Levolution events in favour of ‘tactical destruction’ because all-out annihilation ‘wouldn’t be fun’

Microsoft announces it will automatically install the Copilot AI app alongside desktop versions of 365 products like Word, Excel and PowerPoint this October—and it seems like there’s no way for personal users to opt out

Yakuza fans smell blood in the water as RGG studio accidentally puts the words ‘Kiwami 3’ on its website

Researchers argue that ‘at least 40%’ of the bloated x86 ISA could be removed and emulated to improve CPU efficiency

Subnautica 2 devs reveal the latest horrifying Leviathan to grace the deep sea: ‘It has 4 tentacles to grab, crush, swat, and terrify players’

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES
LATEST GAME REVIEWS

Best SSD for gaming in 2025: the fastest and the best value solid state drives to perk up your PC

Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming

Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC

Best graphics cards in 2025: I’ve tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today’s top cards

Best gaming chair in 2025: I’ve tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I’d suggest for any PC gamer

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor review

Humanscale Freedom Chair with Headrest review

Strange Antiquities review

Medion Erazer Scout 15 E1 review

Hollow Knight: Silksong review

PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Contact Future’s experts

Terms and conditions

Privacy policy

Cookies policy

Advertise with us

Accessibility Statement

Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,

BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait…