Microsoft says it doesn’t use customer data from its Microsoft 365 apps to train its AI models. The clarification concerns reports circulating online In the last few weeks claiming that Microsoft was requiring Word and Excel users to opt out of training the company’s AI systems.
The confusion arose from a privacy setting in Microsoft Office that toggles “optional connected experiences” – a feature that helps users “search for images online” or “find information available online,” according to Microsoft. This toggle is enabled by default and does not mention AI training in the disclosure. Similarly, a Microsoft learning document published on October 21, 2024 appears to have contributed to the confusion by describing a long list of connected experiences in Office that “analyze your content” without explicitly excluding Large Language Model (LLM) AI training.
“In M365 applications, we do not use customer data to train LLMs,” specifies the Microsoft 365 X account declaredresponding to complaints. “This setting only enables features that require Internet access, such as co-authoring a document.” Frank Shaw, Microsoft communications manager also sounded on Bluesky to debunk the allegations.
The Adobe and Microsoft incidents suggest that people are increasingly concerned about their personal data being used by tech companies to train their AI models without express permission. This is an understandable concern given companies like Meta, XAnd Google default to their users in AI training, and the large amounts of online content is removed for this purpose.