Dame Emma Thompson gives the 'AI revolution' both barrels

Oscar-winning author and performer would prefer Copilot did not offer her writing assistance

Dame Emma Thompson's expletive-laden takedown of AI writing assistants may strike a chord with frustrated users everywhere.

When Stephen Colbert asked the Oscar-winning performer and writer how she felt about "the coming AI revolution," Thompson didn't hold back: "Intense irritation."

Her target? Microsoft Word's Copilot feature, which constantly offers to rewrite her work. "When I've written something and put it into a Word document, it's constantly saying, 'Would you like me to rewrite that for you?'" Thompson said.

The UK national treasure added: "I don't need you to [expletive deleted] rewrite what I've just written. Will you [expletive deleted] off. Just [expletive deleted] off!"

Colbert suggested Thompson show the computer her screenwriting Oscar. "I don't think that it would care," Thompson replied.

Microsoft rolled out Copilot in Word in January. Users can disable it by clearing the "Enable Copilot" checkbox in options, however, Thompson's outburst highlights a broader issue: these features arrive enabled by default, uninvited.

For an award-winning writer, an AI assistant offering to "improve" her prose is particularly galling. Perhaps the lesson is simple — don't enable features unless users explicitly request them. We've moaned about this before but clearly Redmond is ignoring the common sense brigade.

The Register asked Microsoft what it thought of the Dame's comments. but the company had nothing to add.

Until then, Thompson has our vote for the best AI takedown of 2025. ®