Microsoft Officially Scraps AI Search History Feature from Edge

Last year, in March, we reported about Microsoft testing “History Search assisted by AI” in the Edge browser. Back then, we spotted the toggle to enable the feature in the Canary version of the browser. The option was buried under Settings > Privacy, search and services > Search and Connected Experiences. Fast forward to June 20025, Microsoft started rolling out the AI-powered search history for everyone with the roll out of Edge 138.

For those unaware, the feature allowed users to find previously visited websites using synonyms, phrases, or even misspellings. Better yet, the feature runs entirely on your device, so your data stays private.

Microsoft scraps Edge’s AI-powered search history

Officially, Microsoft described that the feature as “Enhanced search finds sites in your History even when you use a synonym, phrase, or typo. After this feature is turned on, sites you visit will be shown in enhanced history search results. An on-device model is trained using your data, which never leaves your device and is never sent to Microsoft.”

While there was option for admins to use the EdgeHistoryAISearchEnabled policy to disable this feature, many called it “creepy.” Well, if you are among those who didn’t like Microsoft Edge’s AI search history feature, you would be happy to know that the company has killed it entirely.

As spotted by Neowin, Microsoft has added an update to the feature entry in the official Microsoft 365 roadmap portal and noted that “We have decided not to move forward with this change at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

While the decision to kill the AI search history appears to have triggered due to user backlash, there is high chance that Microsoft’s Windows K2 initiative is behind it. In case you don’t know, under the internal initiative, the company has been working towards improving Windows 11 from ground up, and cutting the Copilot bloat across the OS is reportedly also a part of the plan. Whatever may be the case, AI search history in Ede is now gone for good. Not to forget, Microsoft recently also killed the Copilot mode from its browser.