Users concerned about protecting their intellectual property or sensitive information are advised to opt out by disabling the feature in settings. This requires unchecking the 'Turn on optional connected experiences' box. The process is seen as convoluted, reflecting a broader trend in the tech industry. Microsoft's Services Agreement includes a clause granting the company a worldwide, royalty-free intellectual property license to use user content. However, it is not confirmed that Microsoft uses content from Excel and Word documents generated by users to train its AI models.
Key takeaways:
- Microsoft's Office has a feature called Connected Experiences that automatically gathers data from Word and Excel files to train the company's AI models.
- This feature is turned on by default, potentially including user-generated content in AI training unless manually deactivated.
- The process to deactivate this feature is complex, requiring users to navigate through seven steps in the settings.
- Microsoft's Services Agreement includes a clause that grants the company a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license to use user content.