Is Microsoft using your Word and Excel data to train their AI?

A whole storm was started because an IT consultant posted on X that Microsoft silently turned on a feature that allows the company to use your Word and Excel content to train their AI. The user also quotes a Microsoft document that contains instructions on how to opt-out on this feature.

What is Connected Experiences and what does it do?

We reported about Microsoft allowing you to turn off Connected Experiences and it was introduced by the Redmond giant especially because it raised some eyebrows about privacy and security among organizations.

I asked Copilot to tell me all about Connected Experiences and it provided a condensed and meaningful explanation that you can read below.

Microsoft 365, connected experiences are features that enhance your productivity by leveraging cloud-based services. These experiences can be categorized into two main types:

1. Experiences that analyze your content: These use your Microsoft 365 content to provide design recommendations, editing suggestions, data insights, and similar features. Examples include PowerPoint Designer, Dictate, and Translator.
2. Experiences that download online content: These allow you to search and download online content such as templates, images, 3D models, and reference materials to enhance your documents. Examples include Excel’s rich data types and Outlook’s weather info

So, Connected Experiences is also about analyzing your Microsoft 365 content to provide additional information and content.

Now, if you care to take a glance at Microsoft’s Service Agreement document, you will learn an interesting fact, as shown in the caption above:

Where processing is based on consent and to the extent permitted by law, by agreeing to these Terms, you consent to Microsoft’s collection, use and disclosure of Your Content and Data as described in the Privacy Statement.

Now, the extent permitted by law might be the key words here, although in the U.S., there aren’t any clear lines about this issue.

Microsoft responded on the Connected Experiences allegations

Microsoft responded to the X thread, basically saying that the Microsoft 365 apps don’t use the customer data to train LLMs. They also mention that the Connected Experiences setting only enable features that use internet access such as co-authoring a document.

So, is Microsoft using your Word and Excel data to train their AI? According to the Microsoft 365 response on X, the answer is a clear NO. Do you still doubt about this or have any suspicion? Then feel free to turn off this feature.

To do that, open any Microsoft 365 application (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint), go to File, and choose Account. The, navigate to Manage Settings, scroll down to Connected Experiences where you can disable it.

The only argument about this whole issue is that the Connected Experiences feature should probably be disabled by default and opt for it during a process that involves using it. This would be more fair for the users who don’t know anything about it.

What do you think about this issue? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.