Copilot AI Model Training | My Security and Privacy

Question

I use a personal Microsoft account with Microsoft Copilot. I cannot find a "Training on conversation activity" or similar setting in Copilot or in my Microsoft Privacy Dashboard. Can you confirm whether my Copilot conversations are being used for AI model training, and if so, where I can view or change that setting?

Answer 1

For a personal Microsoft account, Copilot conversation data is used for model training only in specific cases and only when the applicable controls are available for that user.

From the current privacy documentation:

1. Who is excluded from model training
   Copilot does not train on data from:
   • Users signed in with an organizational Entra ID account.
   • Users of Copilot within Microsoft 365 apps with Personal or Family subscriptions.
   • Users who are not signed into Copilot.
   • Users under 18 who are signed in.
   • Users who have opted out of model training.
   • Users in Brazil, China (excluding Hong Kong), Israel, Nigeria, South Korea, and Vietnam.
2. When conversations can be used for training
   For other consumer Copilot users (signed in with a personal Microsoft account and not in the excluded categories above), Microsoft may use:
   • Voice and conversation activity with Copilot.
   • Images or files uploaded in Copilot.
   • De-identified Bing/MSN search and news data and interactions with ads.
   This data is used to improve Copilot and other products, unless the user has opted out of model training.
3. Where the training setting should appear
   When available for a user, the “Training on conversation activity” and “Training on voice conversations” controls are located:
   • On copilot.com: profile icon → profile name → Privacy → Training on conversation activity / Training on voice conversations.
   • In Copilot for Windows/macOS: profile icon → Settings → Privacy → Training on conversation activity / Training on voice conversations.
   • In the Copilot mobile app: menu → profile icon → Account → Privacy → Training on conversation activity / Training on voice conversations.
   Opting out in these controls excludes future conversation activity from being used for model training. It does not stop use of data for general product/system improvements, advertising, digital safety, security, and compliance as described in the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
4. Why the setting may not be visible
   The documentation notes that model training and opt-out controls are being expanded gradually and that some countries currently do not use conversation history for model training at all. In those locations, users will not see the training setting because their data is already excluded from model training.
5. Personalization vs. model training
   Even if opted out of model training, personalization can remain on. In that case, Copilot may remember key details from recent conversations to personalize responses, but those conversations are not used to train generative AI models.

If the “Training on conversation activity” setting is not visible in Copilot for a personal account, the documentation supports two possibilities:

• The account falls into one of the excluded categories (for example, location-based exclusion), in which case conversations are not used for model training.
• Model training controls have not yet been rolled out for that specific region/user cohort, in which case training behavior follows the current rollout rules described above.

To change the setting when it becomes available, use the Copilot privacy controls in the Copilot app (web, Windows/macOS, or mobile) as outlined in section 3.

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References:

• Microsoft Copilot privacy controls
• Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot