No, Microsoft isn’t utilizing your Workplace docs to coach its AI Leave a comment

Microsoft says it isn’t utilizing buyer knowledge from its Microsoft 365 apps to coach its AI fashions. The clarification addresses reviews circulating on-line in the previous few weeks claiming Microsoft required Phrase and Excel customers to choose out of coaching the corporate’s AI programs.

The confusion arose from a privateness setting in Microsoft Workplace that toggles “elective linked experiences” — a function that helps customers “seek for on-line footage” or “discover data obtainable on-line,” in accordance with Microsoft. This toggle is switched on by default, and fails to say AI coaching within the disclosure. Equally, a Microsoft studying doc posted on October twenty first, 2024 appears to have contributed to the confusion by describing a protracted listing of linked experiences in Workplace that “analyze your content material” with out explicitly excluding AI coaching.

“Within the M365 apps, we don’t use buyer knowledge to coach LLMs,” the Microsoft 365 X account mentioned, responding to claims. “This setting solely allows options requiring web entry like co-authoring a doc.” Microsoft’s communications head Frank Shaw additionally chimed in on Bluesky to debunk the claims. 

The Adobe and Microsoft incidents recommend that persons are more and more involved with their private knowledge being utilized by tech firms to coach their AI fashions with out specific permission. It’s an comprehensible concern given firms like Meta, X, and Google choose their customers into AI coaching by default, and the huge portions of on-line content material being scraped for that function.