A few days ago, Microsoft came into the spotlight as a tweet claimed that Microsoft 365 apps (including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) use the user’s data and information to train its AI models. They said the data is stored by the connected experiences feature in privacy settings that are by default switched on.
The NixCraft tweet stated:
Heads up: Microsoft Office, like many companies in recent months, has slyly turned on an “opt-out” feature that scrapes your Word and Excel documents to train its internal AI systems. This setting is turned on by default, and you have to manually uncheck a box to opt out. If you are a writer who uses MS Word to write any proprietary content (blog posts, novels, or any work you intend to protect with copyright and/or sell), you’re going to want to turn this feature off immediately.
After that it was the most asked question among many people does Microsoft use your information to train its AI models or not? But, Microsoft responded and instantly cleared the situation that the claim was false. They stated, “In the M365 apps, we do not use customer data to train LLMs; this setting only enables features requiring internet access like co-authoring a document”.
The company also stated that the optional setting has been on by default since it was made available in April 2019 and used to give real-time grammar suggestions and web-based resources. Moreover, this incident indicates that still people are highly concerned about Microsoft use data and personal information to train their AI models without their permission.
