How to get the most out of Copilot while protecting your data

Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming part of our lives, and Microsoft has perhaps been the quickest to bake new AI features into its products. Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s AI assistant that can be accessed on Windows 11, and from many of its apps and services, like Edge, Bing, and the Office suite. 

It’s really an impressive part of Microsoft’s modern software approach. Copilot isn’t just a chatbot these days – it’s a full-fledged assistant that can see images, generate images and text, draft email replies, and more. 

But, of course, given how deep Copilot integration is becoming in Microsoft’s services, you might be wondering just how protected the data you give Copilot is – and how to make use of Copilot while keeping your data safe and secure. Here’s what you need to know.

What permissions does Copilot need?

To get the most out of Copilot, it really needs pretty much full access to everything on your computer. That’s right – all the documents, emails, images, and files that you have on your computer can be seen by Copilot, if you give it the access. That’s important to keep in mind if you store sensitive files on your computer.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft unveils Copilot Agents, an AI business assistant

To be fair, Windows as a whole also has this access, obviously. Microsoft increasingly wants users to see Copilot as part of the Microsoft, and Windows, experience – and less as an app that runs on top of Windows. Microsoft has been transparent about its approach to developing AI responsibly, including developing AI systems in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Standard. This “standard” essentially outlines that while Microsoft collects data from you using Microsoft products, users are able to control the data that Microsoft uses for advertising.

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What Copilot features need an internet connection?

The features that Copilot needs an internet connection for actually vary a little depending on the computer you have. Microsoft recently launched a new generation of computers that it calls Microsoft Copilot+ PCs, which are designed specifically for better AI features. Copilot+ PCs are built on an ARM architecture, and deliver impressive local AI performance. Not only that, but they can actually run so-called “small language models” locally, so many tasks won’t require an internet connection at all.

Because of this, new Copilot+ PCs actually support a huge range of features that are processed locally, instead of in the cloud. However not allof Copilot’s features will run locally. 

SEE ALSO: Everything announced at Microsoft Build 2024, including new Copilot and Edge features

One feature that has gotten some attention since Microsoft launched Copilot+ PCs is the new Recall feature. This feature essentially takes screenshots of your computer as you use it, and can then help you refer back to websites, files, and more. According to Microsoft, however, these snapshots are only stored locally, and are encrypted on your hard drive. Microsoft says that they aren't uploaded to the cloud. 

Another new feature is the Cocreate feature, which also runs locally. This feature is built into software like Paint and Photos, and in paint, for example, it allows users to sketch an image and combine that with text prompts to create all-new images. 

This isn’t to say that Copilot doesn’t rely on the cloud at all. On the contrary, while Copilot+ PCs can run smalllanguage models locally, they can’t run largelanguage models locally – and any time you use the service to find out information from the web, for example, it’ll rely on cloud services. Not only that, but standard PCs that aren’t "Copilot+ PCs" will rely more on cloud services, as they can’t run these new small language models locally. 

What you can do

So what can you do to ensure that your data is protected while making use of all these new features? Well, there’s really not much you needto do, if you want to use Copilot. To be clear, for now, you don’t haveto use Copilot at all – it can be disabled in the settings of your Windows computer. And, of course, you don’t necessarily have to use specific Copilot features.

Microsoft says that Copilot adheres to the same privacy and security standards that it has already been using – and for now, there’s no reason to suspect that Copilot is secretly collecting data that you don’t know about, and sending it to third parties. Hopefully, Microsoft won’t prove that wrong.