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Microsoft accused of using online Word and Excel content for AI training, unless you opt-out

Microsoft denies that it is scraping Microsoft 65 user data, including Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, to train its various AI models.

Microsoft accused of using online Word and Excel content for AI training, unless you opt-out
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TL;DR: Microsoft Office's "Connected Experiences" feature, enabled by default, has been criticized for potentially using user content to train AI without clear disclosure. Microsoft denies using customer data for AI training, stating the feature is for internet-required functions like document co-authoring. Critics highlight Microsoft's Services Agreement, which grants the company rights to user content. Opting out requires navigating specific settings.

Microsoft Office, which includes popular productivity apps like Word and Excel, has been accused of scraping user-created content to train its internal AI systems. The feature, called 'Microsoft Connected Experiences,' is enabled by default, and to opt-out, you need to navigate various settings and options.

Microsoft accused of using online Word and Excel content for AI training, unless you opt-out 3

Linux expert @nixcraft on X called 'Connected Experiences' "unethical" because the feature's name doesn't convey that it's all about AI training. Microsoft's knowledge base states that connected experiences are "designed to enable you to create, communicate, and collaborate more effectively" by analyzing your content. There's no mention of AI or data being used for Copilot features or to train Microsoft's AI models.

Various media publications have picked up on these allegations, and Microsoft has responded to them using the official @Microsoft365 account on social media, denying the claims.

"We do not use customer data to train LLMs," Microsoft said. According to the company, 'Microsoft Connected Experiences' isn't about generative AI tools or training. "This setting only enables features requiring internet access like co-authoring a document."

However, as Tom's Hardware points out, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Connected Experiences are covered by Microsoft's Services Agreement, which gives the company full intellectual property rights to all of your content.

"To the extent necessary to provide the Services to you and others, to protect you and the Services, and to improve Microsoft products and services, you grant to Microsoft a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, display, and distribute via communication tools Your Content on the Services," the agreement reads.

With web-based apps and services, social media, search engines, and more, several major players in the tech and AI space have been accurately called out for scraping user data to train AI. The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, recently said that any content on the web "is fair use" for AI training, reproduction, and more. Everything else, which includes data that people actively opt out of sharing or checking a 'do not scrape' box, is a 'gray area.' Not only that, but it's up to the courts to decide what data is off-limits.

Back to Microsoft Connected Experiences, the company has stated that it is not using your Word documents to train AI models. Still, if you want to opt-out, you need to go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences > Uncheck the box: "Turn on optional connected experiences."

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Kosta is a veteran gaming journalist that cut his teeth on well-respected Aussie publications like PC PowerPlay and HYPER back when articles were printed on paper. A lifelong gamer since the 8-bit Nintendo era, it was the CD-ROM-powered 90s that cemented his love for all things games and technology. From point-and-click adventure games to RTS games with full-motion video cut-scenes and FPS titles referred to as Doom clones. Genres he still loves to this day. Kosta is also a musician, releasing dreamy electronic jams under the name Kbit.

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