Turning AI Off

A single switch in Settings > Slate AI turns off every AI feature across Slate. When AI is off, the AI buttons, panels, and menus disappear from the interface, and AI generation is blocked. Everything you do by hand keeps working, so you can build, narrate, translate, and export courses entirely without AI.

The switch is available on every plan and applies to your whole account: all of your courses and workspaces.

What turning AI off does

Turning the switch off does two things at once: it hides AI controls from the interface, and it stops the AI from running.

The following are hidden and turned off:

Course and lesson generation - the Generate with AI options for building drafts
Text tools - the AI improve, expand, shorten, and rewrite buttons in the editor
Image generation - generating images from a prompt
Knowledge check and code generation - generating quiz questions or code blocks
AI narration - generating voice-over audio from your block content
AI translation - the auto-translate step that creates a translated version for you
Review summaries - AI-written summaries and checklists in the Review Tool
Voice features - Live Voice course planning and voice input for dictating prompts

With AI off, these surfaces simply do not appear, so the interface stays focused on manual authoring.

What still works

Turning AI off does not take any of your manual capabilities away. Everything you create or upload yourself keeps working:

Custom narration - upload your own audio files (MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, up to 50 MB) or paste an audio URL on any block. The narration panel switches to an upload-only layout.
Your own translations - on Standard and Pro, you can still add languages by importing your own translation files. Only the AI auto-translate step is turned off; the manual import and export workflow stays available.
Course authoring - create, edit, and organize courses, lessons, and blocks
Theming and media - branding, themes, and uploading your own images, video, and documents
Templates - saving and reusing block and lesson templates
Review Tool - comments and feedback (without the AI summary)
Export and sharing - all export formats, hosting, and Share & Track

Slate MCP and Slate for Canva

The switch controls AI inside the Slate Builder. Two connected surfaces run outside the Builder and are not governed by it:

Slate MCP - an AI assistant connected through Slate MCP can still generate and edit your course content. The switch does not disconnect it.
Slate for Canva - converting a Canva design into a course still uses AI. (Slate for Canva is coming soon.)

If you want to keep AI out of these surfaces as well, don’t connect them, or disconnect any that are already connected. Turning the Builder switch off does not do this for you.

Turning AI off

Open Settings from the user menu
Select the Slate AI section
Use the switch at the top of the section to turn Slate AI off

The change takes effect immediately. The card label updates to show whether Slate AI is currently on or off.

Turning AI back on

Return to Settings > Slate AI and flip the same switch back on. Every AI feature reappears in the interface right away. Turning AI off and on does not delete any preferences, drafts, narration, or translations you have already created.

Credits

Turning AI off does not change your plan or your credit balance. Your monthly credits stay exactly as they are, and you can still see your balance and history in Settings > Credits. Because no AI features run while the switch is off, no credits are spent.