Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

  • Article

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a sophisticated processing and orchestration engine that provides AI-powered productivity capabilities by coordinating the following components:

  • Large language models (LLMs)
  • Content in Microsoft Graph, such as emails, chats, and documents that you have permission to access.
  • The Microsoft 365 apps that you use every day, such as Word and PowerPoint.

For an overview of how these three components work together, see Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 overview. For links to other content related to Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 documentation.

Important

  • Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is compliant with our existing privacy, security, and compliance commitments to Microsoft 365 commercial customers, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and European Union (EU) Data Boundary.
  • Prompts, responses, and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren't used to train foundation LLMs, including those used by Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.

The information in this article is intended to help provide answers to the following questions:

Note

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 will continue to evolve over time with new capabilities. To keep up to date on Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 or ask questions, visit the Microsoft 365 Copilot community on the Microsoft Tech Community.

How does Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 use your proprietary organizational data?

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 provides value by connecting LLMs to your organizational data. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 accesses content and context through Microsoft Graph. It can generate responses anchored in your organizational data, such as user documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, and contacts. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 combines this content with the user’s working context, such as the meeting a user is in now, the email exchanges the user had on a topic, or the chat conversations the user had last week. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 uses this combination of content and context to help provide accurate, relevant, and contextual responses.

Important

Prompts, responses, and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren't used to train foundation LLMs, including those used by Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 only surfaces organizational data to which individual users have at least view permissions. It's important that you're using the permission models available in Microsoft 365 services, such as SharePoint, to help ensure the right users or groups have the right access to the right content within your organization. This includes permissions you give to users outside your organization through inter-tenant collaboration solutions, such as shared channels in Microsoft Teams.

When you enter prompts using Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, the information contained within your prompts, the data they retrieve, and the generated responses remain within the Microsoft 365 service boundary, in keeping with our current privacy, security, and compliance commitments. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 uses Azure OpenAI services for processing, not OpenAI’s publicly available services.

Note

When using Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, your organization’s data might leave the Microsoft 365 service boundary under the following circumstances:

  • When you’re using plugins to help Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 to provide more relevant information. Check the privacy statement and terms of use of the plugin to determine how it will handle your organization’s data. For information, see Extensibility of Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.
  • When you’re using the web content plugin to enhance chat answers, Copilot for Microsoft 365 will generate a search query that is sent to Bing for the latest information from the web. For more information, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and the web content plugin.

Abuse monitoring for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 occurs in real-time, without providing Microsoft any standing access to customer data, either for human or for automated review. While abuse moderation, which includes human review of content, is available in Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 services have opted out of it. Microsoft 365 data isn’t collected or stored by Azure OpenAI.

Note

We may use customer feedback, which is optional, to improve Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, just like we use customer feedback to improve other Microsoft 365 services and Microsoft 365 apps. We don't use this feedback to train the foundation LLMs used by Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. Customers can manage feedback through admin controls. For more information, see Manage Microsoft feedback for your organization and Providing feedback about Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Data stored about user interactions with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

When a user interacts with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 apps (such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Loop, or Whiteboard), we store data about these interactions. The stored data includes the user's prompt and Copilot's response, including citations to any information used to ground Copilot's response. We refer to the user’s prompt and Copilot’s response to that prompt as the “content of interactions” and the record of those interactions is the user’s Copilot interaction history. For example, this stored data provides users with Copilot interaction history in Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat and meetings in Microsoft Teams. This data is processed and stored in alignment with contractual commitments with your organization’s other content in Microsoft 365. The data is encrypted while it's stored and isn't used to train foundation LLMs, including those used by Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.

To view and manage this stored data, admins can use Content search or Microsoft Purview. Admins can also use Microsoft Purview to set retention policies for the data related to chat interactions with Copilot. For more information, see the following articles:

For Microsoft Teams chats with Copilot, admins can also use Microsoft Teams Export APIs to view the stored data.

Deleting the history of user interactions with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

Your users can delete their Copilot interaction history, which includes their prompts and the responses Copilot returns, by going to the My Account portal. For more information, see Delete your Microsoft Copilot interaction history.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and the EU Data Boundary

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 calls to the LLM are routed to the closest data centers in the region, but also can call into other regions where capacity is available during high utilization periods.

For European Union (EU) users, we have additional safeguards to comply with the EU Data Boundary. EU traffic stays within the EU Data Boundary while worldwide traffic can be sent to the EU and other countries or regions for LLM processing.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and data residency

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is upholding data residency commitments as outlined in the Microsoft Product Terms and Data Protection Addendum. Copilot for Microsoft 365 was added as a covered workload in the data residency commitments in Microsoft Product Terms on March 1, 2024.

Microsoft Advanced Data Residency (ADR) and Multi-Geo Capabilities offerings include data residency commitments for Copilot for Microsoft 365 customers as of March 1, 2024. For EU customers, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an EU Data Boundary service. Customers outside the EU may have their queries processed in the US, EU, or other regions.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and the web content plugin

Copilot for Microsoft 365 has the option to enhance chat answers with the latest information from the web. When the web content plugin is enabled, Copilot may fetch information from the Bing search index when Copilot determines that information from the web will help provide a better, more grounded response.

Admin controls and user-level toggle are available to manage whether the web content plugin is enabled in your environment.

How the web content plugin works

When the web content plugin is enabled in chat, Copilot for Microsoft 365 parses the user’s prompt and identifies terms where web grounding could improve the quality of the response. Based on these terms, Copilot generates a search query that is sent to the Bing Search API asking for more information. This search query is different from the user’s prompt—it usually consists of a few words informed by the user’s prompt and/or Microsoft 365 data. It doesn't automatically include the entirety of Microsoft 365 documents associated with the prompt.

The following table provides an example of a user's prompt, the search queries sent, and Copilot's response.

Entity Text
Prompt (as written by the user) We're considering a possible acquisition of Fabrikam. Help me put together a 200-word summary report of publicly available financial information on the company, including their business strategy.
Search queries (generated by Copilot and sent to the Bing search API) Fabrikam strategy
Fabrikam financials
Response (generated by Copilot) Fabrikam is a CPG startup that offers healthier food alternatives but with the same familiar taste as traditional brands. The company gathered $4.5 million in seed funding in 2019 and raised $31.5 million in a series B funding round in 2022. As of January 2023, Fabrikam raised a total of $83.4 million in funding and is on target to more than double its sales this year.

As the pandemic hit, Fabrikam faced the challenge of pivoting from brick-and-mortar stores to online sales, and that’s where their influencer marketing strategy came into play. Instead of relying on in-store events and promotions, Fabrikam turned to social media and influencer partnerships to build brand awareness and reach a wider audience. The company also approached innovation from a genuine angle, balancing traditional consumption drivers with better-for-you offerings and having a holistic, robust distribution strategy.

In summary, Fabrikam has raised over $55 million in funding and has a strong influencer marketing strategy that has helped them pivot to online sales during the pandemic.

In this example, only the two search queries are sent to the Bing Search API. After the user enters their prompt, the chat experience will display any queries being generated and sent to Bing. The user's prompts and Copilot's responses are stored within Microsoft 365. Search queries sent to the Bing Search API by Copilot for Microsoft 365 are disassociated from the user ID and tenant ID.

The Bing Search API is provided by Bing.com, which operates separately from Microsoft 365 and has different data-handling practices. The use of Bing is covered by the Microsoft Services Agreement between each user and Microsoft, together with the Microsoft Privacy Statement. The Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA) doesn’t apply to the use of web content plugin or the Bing Search API.

Controls available to manage the use of web content

Admins can block access to web content in Copilot for Microsoft 365. For more information, see Manage access to web content in Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 responses. Even when allowed by the admin, users still have the option whether or not they want to use the web plugin. For more information, see Use additional data sources with Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Note

The policy settings that control the use of optional connected experiences in Microsoft 365 Apps don’t apply to Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and web content.

Extensibility of Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

While Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is already able to use the apps and data within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, many organizations still depend on various external tools and services for work management and collaboration. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 experiences can reference third-party tools and services when responding to a user’s request by using Microsoft Graph connectors or plugins. Data from Graph connectors can be returned in Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 responses if the user has permission to access that information.

When plugins are enabled, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 determines whether it needs to use a specific plugin to help provide a relevant response to the user. If a plugin is needed, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 generates a search query to send to the plugin on the user’s behalf. The query is based on the user’s prompt, Copilot interaction history, and data the user has access to in Microsoft 365.

In the Integrated apps section of the Microsoft 365 admin center, admins can view the permissions and data access required by a plugin as well as the plugin’s terms of use and privacy statement. Admins have full control to select which plugins are allowed in their organization. A user can only access the plugins that their admin allows and that the user installed or is assigned. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 only uses plugins that are turned on by the user.

Note

The policy settings that control the use of optional connected experiences in Microsoft 365 Apps don’t apply to plugins.

For more information, see the following articles:

How does Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 protect organizational data?

The permissions model within your Microsoft 365 tenant can help ensure that data won't unintentionally leak between users, groups, and tenants. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 presents only data that each individual can access using the same underlying controls for data access used in other Microsoft 365 services. Semantic Index honors the user identity-based access boundary so that the grounding process only accesses content that the current user is authorized to access. For more information, see Microsoft’s privacy policy and service documentation.

When you have data that's encrypted by Microsoft Purview Information Protection, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 honors the usage rights granted to the user. This encryption can be applied by sensitivity labels or by restricted permissions in Microsoft 365 apps by using Information Rights Management (IRM). For more information about using Microsoft Purview with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft Purview data security and compliance protections for Microsoft Copilot.

We already implement multiple forms of protection to help prevent customers from compromising Microsoft 365 services and applications or gaining unauthorized access to other tenants or the Microsoft 365 system itself. Here are some examples of those forms of protection:

  • Logical isolation of customer content within each tenant for Microsoft 365 services is achieved through Microsoft Entra authorization and role-based access control. For more information, see Microsoft 365 isolation controls.

  • Microsoft uses rigorous physical security, background screening, and a multi-layered encryption strategy to protect the confidentiality and integrity of customer content.

  • Microsoft 365 uses service-side technologies that encrypt customer content at rest and in transit, including BitLocker, per-file encryption, Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Internet Protocol Security (IPsec). For specific details about encryption in Microsoft 365, see Encryption in the Microsoft Cloud.

  • Your control over your data is reinforced by Microsoft's commitment to comply with broadly applicable privacy laws, such as the GDPR, and privacy standards, such as ISO/IEC 27018, the world’s first international code of practice for cloud privacy.

  • For content accessed through Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 plug-ins, encryption can exclude programmatic access, thus limiting the plug-in from accessing the content. For more information, see Configure usage rights for Azure Information Protection.

Meeting regulatory compliance requirements

As regulation in the AI space evolves, Microsoft will continue to adapt and respond to fulfill future regulatory requirements.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is built on top of Microsoft’s current commitments to data security and privacy in the enterprise. There's no change to these commitments. Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is integrated into Microsoft 365 and adheres to all existing privacy, security, and compliance commitments to Microsoft 365 commercial customers. For more information, see Microsoft Compliance.

Beyond adhering to regulations, we prioritize an open dialogue with our customers, partners, and regulatory authorities to better understand and address concerns, thereby fostering an environment of trust and cooperation. We acknowledge that privacy, security, and transparency aren't just features, but prerequisites in the AI-driven landscape at Microsoft.

Additional information

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and policy settings for connected experiences

If you turn off connected experiences that analyze content for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows or Mac devices in your organization, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 features won’t be available to your users in the following apps:

  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • OneNote
  • Word

Similarly, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 features in those apps on Windows or Mac devices won’t be available if you turn off the use of connected experiences for Microsoft 365 Apps.

For more information about these policy settings, see the following articles:

About the content that Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 creates

The responses that generative AI produces aren't guaranteed to be 100% factual. While we continue to improve responses, users should still use their judgment when reviewing the output before sending them to others. Our Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 capabilities provide useful drafts and summaries to help you achieve more while giving you a chance to review the generated AI rather than fully automating these tasks.

We continue to improve algorithms to proactively address issues, such as misinformation and disinformation, content blocking, data safety, and preventing the promotion of harmful or discriminatory content in line with our responsible AI principles.

Microsoft doesn't claim ownership of the output of the service. That said, we don't make a determination on whether a customer’s output is copyright protected or enforceable against other users. This is because generative AI systems may produce similar responses to similar prompts or queries from multiple customers. Consequently, multiple customers may have or claim rights in content that is the same or substantially similar.

If a third party sues a commercial customer for copyright infringement for using Microsoft’s Copilots or the output they generate, we'll defend the customer and pay the amount of any adverse judgments or settlements that result from the lawsuit, as long as the customer used the guardrails and content filters we have built into our products. For more information, see Microsoft announces new Copilot Copyright Commitment for customers.

Committed to responsible AI

As AI is poised to transform our lives, we must collectively define new rules, norms, and practices for the use and impact of this technology. Microsoft has been on a Responsible AI journey since 2017, when we defined our principles and approach to ensuring this technology is used in a way that is driven by ethical principles that put people first.

At Microsoft, we're guided by our AI principles, our Responsible AI Standard, and decades of research on AI, grounding, and privacy-preserving machine learning. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and policy experts reviews our AI systems for potential harms and mitigations — refining training data, filtering to limit harmful content, query- and result-blocking sensitive topics, and applying Microsoft technologies like InterpretML and Fairlearn to help detect and correct data bias. We make it clear how the system makes decisions by noting limitations, linking to sources, and prompting users to review, fact-check, and adjust content based on subject-matter expertise. For more information, see Governing AI: A Blueprint for the Future.

We aim to help our customers use our AI products responsibly, sharing our learnings, and building trust-based partnerships. For these new services, we want to provide our customers with information about the intended uses, capabilities, and limitations of our AI platform service, so they have the knowledge necessary to make responsible deployment choices. We also share resources and templates with developers inside organizations and with independent software vendors (ISVs), to help them build effective, safe, and transparent AI solutions.