How to turn the AI assistant on or off in your app or website

TL;DR — To turn the AI assistant on or off, use your product's admin dashboard first: look for a setting named AI assistant, Assistant, Copilot, or Chat assistant under your app, workspace, site, or feature settings, then switch it to On or Off and save. The most common reason it seems not to change is that the setting was updated in the wrong environment (a separate copy of your app, such as production vs staging) or your browser is showing a cached (saved old) page. Reading time: ~5 min

Goal

When you finish, the AI assistant will be visibly enabled or disabled in the correct app, site, or workspace, and you will be able to confirm the change from the user interface without needing support.

Prerequisites

• An admin or owner login for the product dashboard where your app, website, or workspace is managed
• The name of the correct environment, if your product has more than one: for example Production, Live, Staging, or Test
• The exact app, site, workspace, or project name where the AI assistant should change
• A web browser with permission to sign in and save settings
• If your product also supports command-line changes: access to the vendor's CLI (command-line tool) and its current version; check with:

<vendor-cli> --version

• If single sign-on is used, permission to edit product settings after login

Steps

Step 1: Sign in to the correct admin dashboard

Open your product's admin dashboard in your browser, then go to the area where the app, site, or workspace is managed.

Use this menu path pattern in your provider's dashboard:

Dashboard → Select workspace/project/site → Settings

If your product has environments, select the live one before changing anything:

Dashboard → Workspace/Project → Environment → Production

What you should see: a settings page for the exact app, site, or workspace you want to change.

Step 2: Find the AI assistant setting

Look in the settings navigation for one of these common labels:

Settings → AI assistant
Settings → Assistant
Settings → Features → AI assistant
Settings → Chat → AI assistant
Settings → Workspace → Features
Settings → Site/App → Integrations → AI

If there is a search box in settings, search for this exact text one term at a time:

AI assistant
Assistant
Copilot
Chat assistant
Generative AI

What you should see: a toggle, checkbox, or dropdown that controls whether the AI assistant is enabled.

Step 3: Turn it on or off with the literal control value

Use the visible control and set the exact value you want:

To turn it on:

AI assistant: On

To turn it off:

AI assistant: Off

If the control is a checkbox, use:

[x] Enable AI assistant

or

[ ] Enable AI assistant

If the control is a dropdown, choose:

Enabled

or

Disabled

What you should see: the control changes state and the page shows a Save, Apply, or Update button becoming available.

Step 4: Save the change

Click the save action shown on the page.

Common menu/button text:

Save
Apply changes
Update settings
Publish

If your product separates draft and live settings, use this path after saving:

Settings → Publish changes

What you should see: a confirmation message such as Saved, Settings updated, or Changes published.

⚠️ If your product says the change affects all users, turning the assistant off may remove it immediately from your live app or website. If you need to avoid user disruption, make the change in a test environment first, then repeat it in production during a planned window.

Step 5: Refresh the app or site where users see the assistant

Open the live app, website, or customer portal in a new browser tab and refresh it.

Use one of these actions:

Browser → Refresh

or a hard refresh (reload without old files):

Windows/Linux: Ctrl+Shift+R
macOS: Cmd+Shift+R

If your product has a preview or publish area, use:

Dashboard → Preview

What you should see: if turned on, the assistant button, chat launcher, or AI panel appears; if turned off, that entry point disappears.

Step 6: If your product uses environments, repeat the change in the right one

If the assistant still looks unchanged, switch environments and check the same setting there.

Use this path pattern:

Dashboard → Workspace/Project → Environment → Production
Dashboard → Settings → AI assistant

If you accidentally changed Staging or Test, repeat Step 3 and Step 4 in Production.

What you should see: the live environment now shows the same on/off state you selected.

Step 7: CLI method only if your vendor documents one

If your vendor provides a CLI for feature flags (feature switches), use the vendor's exact documented command. First, list settings or flags so you can identify the assistant key.

Typical pattern:

<vendor-cli> auth login
<vendor-cli> config list
<vendor-cli> feature list

Then set the assistant feature to true or false using the exact key your vendor shows:

<vendor-cli> feature set ai_assistant=true

or

<vendor-cli> feature set ai_assistant=false

Finally, publish or deploy if your vendor requires it:

<vendor-cli> deploy

What you should see: command output confirming the feature was updated successfully, followed by the same UI result as Step 5.

Verify it works

Use the checks that match your goal.

If you turned the assistant on:

Open the live app/site → look for the assistant button, chat icon, or AI panel

Expected result:

The assistant entry point is visible and clickable

If you turned the assistant off:

Open the live app/site → refresh the page → check the same location

Expected result:

The assistant entry point is no longer visible

Also verify in the dashboard:

Dashboard → Workspace/Project → Settings → AI assistant

Expected result:

The toggle/checkbox/dropdown still shows the value you selected after reloading the page

If your app has user roles, test with a normal user account too:

Sign in as a non-admin user → open the same page

Expected result:

The assistant appears for everyone when enabled, or is absent for everyone when disabled, unless your product documents role-based visibility

Common pitfalls

You changed the wrong environment

Mistake: You updated Staging, Test, or a different workspace instead of Production.

Symptom: The dashboard says the setting changed, but the live site still shows the old behavior.

Fix: Go to:

Dashboard → Workspace/Project → Environment → Production → Settings → AI assistant

and repeat the change there.

The page is showing cached content

Mistake: Your browser is loading an older saved version of the page.

Symptom: The assistant still appears after turning it off, or still seems missing after turning it on.

Fix: Use a hard refresh:

Windows/Linux: Ctrl+Shift+R
macOS: Cmd+Shift+R

or open the page in a private/incognito window.

You saved the setting but did not publish it

Mistake: In products with draft and live settings, you clicked Save but not Publish.

Symptom: The dashboard shows a pending change, but users do not see it on the live app.

Fix: Go to:

Settings → Publish changes

and confirm the publish action.

Your account can view settings but cannot change them

Mistake: You are signed in with a role that lacks permission to update features.

Symptom: The toggle is greyed out, the save button is unavailable, or the change reverts after refresh.

Fix: Sign in with an Admin or Owner account, or ask your administrator to grant settings-edit access.

The assistant is controlled in more than one place

Mistake: One setting enables the feature globally, but another setting hides it on a specific site, page, or workspace.

Symptom: The global setting says On, but the assistant is still not visible in one part of the product.

Fix: Check both locations:

Settings → AI assistant
Settings → Site/App/Page → Features

and set both to On if you want it visible there.

You tested while signed in as an admin only

Mistake: Admins sometimes see preview features that normal users do not.

Symptom: The assistant appears for you but not for your team or customers.

Fix: Sign in with a standard user account and repeat the verification in the live app.

This article was written by an AI system and published pending human review. Verify anything you intend to act on.