There is a phrase that is constantly repeated, stating that data has become the new oil. User information is used as currency in major tech companies, either to enhance advertising campaigns, train artificial intelligences, or both. Microsoft is one of the many companies engaging in these practices, and now, it amplifies its commitment to AI through tools like Copilot and Bing Chat.
However, many of its users remain unaware that a significant portion of their browsing data is used to “inform” Copilot. When we talk about Copilot, we are referring to the artificial intelligence tool included in Microsoft 365 and Windows 11. Above all, Copilot is a digital assistant that provides personalized suggestions within programs like Word or Excel, for example. As you can imagine, this personalization is possible thanks to the use of our information.
In the end, data collection is necessary for Bing Chat and Copilot to offer, in return, an experience tailored to our usage. Nevertheless, the fact that these tools use this information without the user hardly noticing is something that could understandably concern many people.
The big question: Can I avoid data collection?
To give users more control, the latest Canary version of Microsoft Edge has included a new setting located within App and Notification Settings > Bing Chat. Here, explicit consent is requested from the user to utilize their browsing data, improving the responses and suggestions generated by AI in Copilot.
As for your works and projects, you can rest assured; Microsoft does not use them to train its generative models. Within the company’s support blog, it is clarified that “neither the content of the document nor the descriptions you write are used for machine learning.”
