Any Microsoft 365 subscription plan is now shipping with the AI Co-Pilot, so even though I could show you how a new Microsoft 365 family plan (6) could cost only $99 (restricted to North America), you would still have the Co-Pilot contention.
I use the single-purchase, single-computer Office 2021 for Mac which does not have Co-Pilot, nor does the 2024 version — so I don't know if one can simply ignore Co-Pilot in the subscription versions or it is your face all the time.
Something else to think about: when Apple ships macOS Tahoe this fall, Microsoft will stop any Office updates to Macs still running Ventura as it has dropped off their three most recent versions of macOS support.
The other alternative (with support) is SoftMaker's Office NX Universal/2024 for Mac, Windows, or Linux which is available in single-purchase or low-cost subscription. This is a faithful reproduction of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint as TextMaker, PlanMaker, and Present respectively. It is a purposeful clone of MS Office and can open native Microsoft documents directly. There is a free trial from their site and it would let you continue running Ventura (or later) with regular SoftMaker product updates.
Licensing for SoftMaker Office NX Universal is $49/year for five same household computers. There likely is no escaping AI features creeping into current products, but perhaps one has more control over not using AI in SoftMaker's product than with Microsoft. The trial should show this.
