MS are automatically upgrading your 365 suite with a new designer program that uses AI and AI assistance for all of their existing packages.
Without emailing me or giving me any warning, my monthly subscription was about to go up by £2.50.
It’s no good trying to downgrade or keep the cheaper non AI 365 on their website but in fact the old version, now called 365 Classic, is available at the old monthly price. I had to endure 2 hours of virtual assistants being passed from pillar to post. They couldn’t believe that I was less than enthusiastic about this great new AI feature that’s essentially an upgraded, more intrusive version of that annoying paperclip in Windows 95.
I’ve contacted Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Team so they can put the word out, but I assume some of you will be using 365 Family or similar and will encounter the same issue.
Anyway, I got a refund for the 16 days I’ve been on the new plan without knowing it.
I appreciate £2.50 per month isn’t going to change anyone’s financial position but if more and more subscription services go this way (Netflix did it recently now only showing new films on a “Premium” package) it’s about time they get called out for this sharp practice, before it becomes the norm.
In the meantime log in to your MS account and check the monthly tariff you’re now on in case you’ve been unknowingly upgraded too.
And it’s AI, it’s going to be “learning” from what you do with your own devices as well but you can’t claim intellectual copyright on what it steals from you.