Microsoft denies training AI models on user data

Microsoft on Wednesday denied claims that it uses customer data from its Microsoft 365 applications, including Word and Excel, to train artificial intelligence models, Reuters reported.

The response came after some users pointed out on social media that the company requires users to opt out of its "connected experiences" feature, which they argued was used to train AI models.

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

The spokesperson added that the "connected experiences" enable features such as co-authoring and cloud storage, and has no connection to how the company trains its large language models.

The conversations on social media indicate that people remain concerned about their data being used to train AI models without permission.

The company also told BleepingComputer that this optional setting has been on by default since it was made available in April 2019.

"The Connected Experiences feature enables features like co-authoring, real-time grammar suggestions, and web-based resources," BleepingComputer was told.

"These features are on by default because they're features people naturally expect in a cloud-connected productivity tool. However, customers always have control and can adjust their Connected Experiences settings at any time."