My Word. Microsoft's prepping Similarity Checker for retirement

Microsoft is discontinuing Word's Similarity Checker on October 3, 2026. This feature, which was launched in 2020 and powered by Bing Search, compared user text to online sources and provided a percentage score of similarity. The user could then add citations if needed to ensure originality. Microsoft stated that this tool aimed to help writers focus more on content than mechanics.

The retirement of the Similarity Checker does not affect Word's citation capabilities or its spelling and grammar checking tools. While Microsoft's AI assistant, Copilot, remains unaffected, Microsoft cautioned that Copilot is not a reliable tool for similarity, plagiarism, or originality validation. The decision to retire the Similarity Checker was made to focus on features that are more widely used in Microsoft Word.

Although usage statistics were not disclosed, Microsoft hinted that users were shifting away from this tool. The Similarity Checker's functionality stands in contrast to Microsoft's emphasis on widespread adoption of Copilot across its suite of products.