Depends a little on the type of file. A prose document, sure, probably want autosave by default. A vector graphics file? I want autosave when I'm creating it, but I do NOT want autosave when I'm copying out a piece buried several groups in and behind some things I need to delete/move out of the way. I also don't want to have to think about whether I need it or not.

But generally the way autosave works is to save a copy that can be recovered on a crash, and only overwrite the original if directed by the user. That works for both use cases. (Haven't used Word in years, so I'm not sure if they have a different behavior now.)