Microsoft Refutes Claims of Using User Data for AI Training

On Wednesday, Microsoft addressed concerns regarding the use of customer data from its Microsoft 365 applications, such as Word and Excel, for training its artificial intelligence models.

This statement came in response to social media discussions where users expressed worries about Microsoft’s "connected experiences" feature. Many believed that opting-out from this feature implied their data was being used to train AI models.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, a Microsoft spokesperson clarified, "These claims are untrue. Microsoft does not use customer data from Microsoft 365 consumer and commercial applications to train foundational large language models."

The spokesperson further explained that the "connected experiences" feature is designed to facilitate functionalities like co-authoring documents and cloud storage. They emphasized that this feature is not related to the training of large language models.

The ongoing conversations on social media demonstrate a heightened concern about user data privacy, particularly regarding how such information might be utilized without users' consent.

Microsoft, AI, data