Does Copilot know your darkest secrets? Now you can delete them
Deleting Copilot chat history might be just as important as the one from your browser
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It’s not a secret anymore that Microsoft is using your Copilot chats to train their LLM. That’s if you opt-in to help them. Microsoft clears this whole thing out in a recent blog post:
Except for certain categories of users or users who have opted out, Microsoft uses data from Bing, MSN, Copilot, and interactions with ads on Microsoft for AI training. This includes anonymous search and news data, interactions with ads, and your voice and text conversations with Copilot. This data will be used to improve Copilot and our other products and services to create a better user experience for you and others.
Can I get a clean slate with Copilot?
So, by default, all your chats with Copilot are saved and used for LLM training. If you think that’s a bit scary, you’re not alone. Based on these concerns, Microsoft detailed a method to get rid of the chat history with Copilot.
If you’re using the Copilot app, just click the time machine icon and you will see all the previous conversations you’ve had with Copilot. From there, you can click the trash bin icon to delete individual conversations.
However, the experience is a bit different if you log in with a regular email from the one using a Microsoft Account. If you’ve signed in with the latter, you can select your profile name in the Settings menu, then go to Privacy > Export or delete history. From there, you will be able to wipe out all conversations in one go.
Another way to do that is from your Microsoft Privacy Dashboard. Just select Copilot and select Delete all activity history as you see in the screenshot above.
Right below, you may also have the option of exporting the Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps activity history. You will get all the Copilot activity inside Microsoft 365, such as that time when you’ve asked him to summarize a document or create a list or a note. However, you can’t delete those from the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard.
You have probably used Copilot in the browser under the legacy experience before October 2024. In this case, you can delete the Copilot activity history from the Privacy Dashboard as well. Go to the Browser and search section and look for Copilot activity history. There, you can opt to Clear all Copilot activity history and search history.
Do you want to get a personalized Copilot experience or not?
On selected accounts, you might have the option to get a personalized experience with Copilot.
If personalization is enabled for you, your recent Copilot conversations and Microsoft activities will be used to provide you a more tailored and relevant experience. Your Microsoft activities include your Bing search activities, MSN activities, and inferred interests. Source: Microsoft Blog
However, you can opt out from Settings > Account > Privacy > Personalization. You can also turn that off on Edge. Click the three vertical dots button from the Copilot setting menu go to Permissions and privacy and click on Personalization.  There, you can change the consent from yes to no.
So, with this guide, Microsoft wants to ensure that you’ve got all the information you need to protect your privacy with Copilot. You might argue that all these settings should be turned off by default and turn them on only if you want to, not the other way around.
After all, many users don’t want to be experimental subjects, and although Microsoft has clear instructions on how to get rid of all this, and even remove Copilot, there are people out there who don’t know how to access them or make the necessary changes.
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