Microsoft decided to ruin my day today.
I am an author. I write for a living. One of the tools I use is Microsoft Word. I have used Word for at least 30 years. I started using it back in the day when we purchase our software and it came on floppy disks we installed on our computer. Overtime, I started paying for a subscription to Microsoft Office and eventually moved from a PC to MAC.
How did Microsoft ruin my day? This morning, I opened a blank Word document and was stunned to see grey text banner across the page. Right where I wanted to type. I’ve included a screen shot of the page so you can see what I am talking about.
To left of the banner is a little floating icon that shows up every time I click “return.” Below is a screen shot of said icon.
After some Googling, I learned it is Copilot, some new Ai Microsoft feature that was installed during the last automatic update. I’ve wasted half the day trying to delete this thing from Word. But none of the how-to’s I’ve found work for Mac, and from what I’ve read online it looks like Microsoft is planning to charge me another three bucks a month for a feature I find distracting and I never asked for.
Tonight, I went on Microsoft Chat help and was told I was the next in line and the average wait was 12 minutes. I was hanging out for over an hour, occasionally typing messages that went through, letting them know I was still waiting. But then my last message failed to go through, and I realized they had ditched me. Nice job, Microsoft.
I would love to know what idiot at Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to roll out a new feature and slap annoying text across every blank document. While it disappears once I start typing, the annoying little icon follows me down the page like a creepy little stalker. When I get around to highlighting the text I just wrote to do some formatting, the annoying stalker jumps up and wants to rewrite what I just wrote.
Hell no! Go away Copilot. I do not want you rewriting my work. While I might use ProWritingAid to help me catch spelling errors and help with punctuation, I will not be having Ai write my stories.
Microsoft obviously did not design Copilot for writers. One common piece of writing advice to new authors, don’t edit while writing your first draft. While I can’t speak for all writers, when writing a book, each day I edit the chapter I wrote the previous day and then write a new chapter. I certainly don’t need Copilot inserting itself every time I hit RETURN.
Writing, like painting, is a creative process. Imagine if you were an artist and have your favorite set of paint brushes. One day you start to paint and discover the manufacturer of those paint brushes came into your studio and changed out all the handles of your paint brushes. The bristles are the same, but the manufacturer thought metal handles would clean up better than your old wooden brushes. Unfortunately, the metal handles just don’t feel the same in your hand and it becomes a distraction.
That’s how some writers are feeling right now after Copilot unexpectantly invaded their workspace. From some of the posts I read online, authors working on manuscripts were especially annoyed at the disruption.
As I was wrapping up this post, I got a little curious to see how Ai would rewrite my words. So, I highlighted what I had written and selected the “Auto Rewrite” option.
How did it do?
I received an error message that said, “We encountered a problem validating your Copilot license.” Followed by a “Learn more about the Copilot license” link.
This leads me to believe Microsoft didn’t activate Copilot, it just added the annoying text banner and stalking icon as a Copilot sales pitch. Or perhaps they will activate the license after they take my next automatic monthly payment (with an increase.)
This is a shady and intrusive way to do business, Microsoft. A good way to piss off someone who has been a customer for over 30 years.