Like a lot of companies recently, has quietly enabled an opt-out feature that scrapes for the content of your Word and Excel documents in order to train it’s AI system. By default, this is turned on and you need to manually turn it off so that you can opt out.
If you’re using Word or Excel to create proprietary content (ie novels, blogs, etc) or any other content that will be protected by copyright, then you’ll be wanting to turn this feature off straight away.
On a Windows PC, go into Word and then File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences > Uncheck box: “Turn on optional connected experiences”
Microsoft have said that the feature is not intended specifically for AI training, but their Services Agreement includes a clause granting them a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property licence to use user content.