- Microsoft Teams will now let users turn off their AI tools
- Copilot, Facilitator and Intelligent Summarization all affected
- Users will be able to pick and choose which AI tools they want on Teams
Microsoft has apparently backed off plans to introduce a host of AI tools across teams after it faced a major backlash from users.
In recent weeks, the company has unveiled several new AI-powered Teams features that it says will help increase user productivity and efficiency by offering things like retrieval tools, note taking and even translation.
After an apparent backlash from users, the company says it will now offer a simple toggle to turn off its “Meeting AI” features on your calls.
Turn off AI in Microsoft Teams
The news was outlined in an admin center post that appeared to admit that the company might have overstated its AI expectations.
“Microsoft Teams will add an in-meeting on/off button for licensed organizers and presenters to turn Meeting AI (Copilot, Facilitator, recap) on or off during live meetings,” the company said. “The rollout will start in early July 2026 with no changes to existing compliance or licensing requirements.”
Microsoft also demonstrated what the feature could look like in a Teams meeting, with a screenshot showing a toggle to individually disable e.g. Copilot, Facilitator and Intelligent Summary – or turn off all tools at once.
The company also pointed out that its Meeting AI tools will only appear after being cleared by your administrators, so specific policy considerations will always be taken into account — and the toggle won’t appear if Meeting AI is specifically turned off by policy.
The news comes shortly after Microsoft unveiled Facilitator, a new AI-powered tool that will help better manage Teams calls and fill in any potential knowledge gaps that emerge during a meeting.
This has already caused some observers to worry about the tool’s privacy and security limits, but Microsoft noted that it must be enabled to listen and watch all your meetings so it knows when to interfere and chip in.
The switch is rolling out now and should be complete by mid-July 2026, with Teams users across all devices, including Windows, macOS, mobile and web.
Via Latest Windows
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