Microsoft says it won't train AI models on Office data without permission
Over the week, several posts have claimed that Microsoft uses Word and Excel documents to train its internal AI models. The Redmond technology giant was accused of stealthily adding a new "Connected Experiences" option in Microsoft 365 that has to be manually toggled off.
Supposedly, the option, if left turned on, would allow Microsoft to feed your Word and Excel documents into its AI models to train them. Opting out is also needlessly cumbersome, requiring several steps to get to the box you need to uncheck.
Microsoft has defended itself against the claims and said it doesn't use your data to train AI models without permission. In a statement shared with The Register, a spokesperson for Microsoft said, "In Microsoft 365 consumer and commercial applications, Microsoft does not use customer data to train large language models without your permission."
The company clarified that Connected Experiences "is an industry standard setting that enables features that require an internet connection." The spokesperson said it allows "allow applications to provide more intelligent and personalized services."
When The Register quizzed the company about what it meant by "permission," the spokesperson clarified, "There are circumstances where enterprise customers may want or consent to our use of their data for foundation model training, such as custom model development requested by the customer."
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