Does Microsoft train on your data?
Microsoft says it uses your data to develop, train and fine-tune its AI models. The Copilot training sentence it stated "in some markets" has gone; the switch stays on Copilot's controls page.
A self-serve opt-out exists
"As part of our efforts to improve and develop our products, we may use your data to develop, train, and fine-tune our AI models, including large language models (LLMs)."
- 14 Sept 2026
- 5 Oct 2026
- All consumer accounts (Microsoft account)
- global
- Fetched from the company
- B97FC29C…8122
How we read it: Corrected 18 Aug 2026, changed again by 14 September 2026. The first reading said no AI-training opt-out appeared in the statement; that was wrong: the Copilot section then said conversation data "can help train our AI models in Microsoft Copilot unless you opt out", opening "In some markets" it never named. The capture of 14 September no longer contains that sentence; conversation data is used "to provide and improve Microsoft Copilot". The switch it described is still documented on Microsoft's Copilot privacy-controls page, which the opt-out steps quote, so the grade holds on the general clause quoted here, which names no control, and on that page.
in some markets, markets, which markets, European, United States
What the document does offer
- "In some markets, this data can help train our AI models in Microsoft Copilot unless you opt out" — in the statement until September 2026; absent from the capture of 14 September 2026
- the phrase "in some markets" twice, and the word "markets" three times in all
Why none of it applies: The opt-out is stated and the geography is not. "Which markets" returns nothing, and neither of the two uses of "in some markets" is followed by a list, a region or a legal test. Europe and the United States are named elsewhere in the statement, for other purposes, never as the scope of this control — so a reader cannot tell from this document whether the opt-out is theirs.
What each plan can refuse
The same questions, asked of every plan we could identify. Every cell comes from a quoted clause or a documented search - see the evidence above.
- Self-serve toggle
- Not stated
- 51 / 100
- Qualified
- Unknown
How to opt out of Microsoft AI training
Plan by plan, from what Microsoft's own policy says about refusing. Where it publishes the steps, they're listed here with the limits they carry. Where there's nothing to switch off, or nothing graded, this says so instead of inventing a menu path.
All consumer accounts (Microsoft account)
Yes. Microsoft has a self-serve setting.
- Select your profile icon, then your profile name.
- Select Privacy.
- Turn off Training on conversation activity, and Training on voice conversations if you use voice.
Future conversations only. Microsoft offers the switch only when you're signed in, and, until September 2026, said it trained "in some markets" without naming them; that sentence has since left the statement.
- Select your profile icon, then Settings.
- Select Privacy.
- Turn off Training on conversation activity.
- Open the menu and select your profile icon.
- Select Account, then Privacy.
- Turn off Training on conversation activity.
What this policy has done since we started watching
10 changes detected since 1 Jan 2023. Each one is a diff between two archived copies, and each links to the passage that moved.
- Touched opt-outs, retention, what's collected, sub-processors, plan tiers and training.
- Touched human review, jurisdiction, opt-outs, retention, what's collected, sub-processors, plan tiers and training.
- MajorTouched jurisdiction, opt-outs, retention, what's collected, sub-processors, plan tiers and training.
- MajorTouched human review, opt-outs, retention, what's collected, sub-processors, plan tiers and training.
- Touched opt-outs, retention, what's collected, sub-processors, plan tiers and training.
- MajorTouched opt-outs, retention, what's collected, sub-processors, plan tiers and training.
- Touched jurisdiction, opt-outs, what's collected, sub-processors and plan tiers.
- MajorTouched human review, jurisdiction, opt-outs, retention, what's collected, sub-processors, plan tiers and training.
Vendor response
We haven't yet written to Microsoft about this verdict, and they haven't disputed, clarified or announced a change to any clause quoted above. When either happens it's published here, word for word.
Report a wrong clause