The latest Windows 11 build has a surprising bug — it gets rid of Copilot

By Willow Roberts Published March 17, 2025

Microsoft has updated the support page for the Windows 11 build it released last week to reveal a rather amusing bug — it seems to have caused some devices to automatically uninstall the Copilot app and unpin it from the taskbar.

At the time of writing, Microsoft is still working on a resolution to the issue spotted by Windows Latest, recommending affected users reinstall the app and pin it back to the taskbar manually. It looks like the bug can occur on any device if it updates to build KB5053598 from Windows 11 24H2, 23H2, or 22H2, along with Windows 10 22H2 or 21H2.

The funny thing about this bug is that it almost feels more like a feature for some users. Not everyone is excited about the AI PC future, and it’s annoying to have preinstalled AI assistants forced on you when you don’t want them.

So while anti-AI users had to uninstall the app and unpin it from the taskbar manually until now — this new bug suddenly does the job for them. This won’t be enough to satisfy some of the Copilot haters out there, however — because uninstalling the app doesn’t actually get rid of the software. Right now, you can only disable Copilot on your PC, never delete it. This makes some people pretty angry — if you want to see just how much some Windows users hate Copilot and the fact that Microsoft forces it on them, just check out this Microsoft Community forum thread from last year.

There are so many AI features creeping into our tech products lately, and there’s a significant number of people who aren’t happy about it (myself included). At some point, someone will realize there’s a market for AI-free alternatives to certain products and services — and I hope it’s soon.