When you use Microsoft's Copilot or other AI-powered features, Microsoft collects your prompts (the questions or instructions you type), the AI's responses, and data about how you interact with those features, and may use this data to improve its AI products.
This analysis describes what Microsoft Azure's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
Users interacting with AI features may not realize that their prompts and AI-generated responses can be collected and used for product improvement, which could include sensitive or confidential content depending on how the feature is used.
Interpretive note: The extent to which prompts are excluded from AI training in enterprise versus consumer deployments, and which specific opt-out controls apply, may vary by product and configuration and is not fully specified in the statement.
Microsoft now discloses that it may contact you by phone for marketing using automated dialers and AI-generated voices if you have consented to marketing communications, which represents a new disclosure of contact method and technology type. The company has also reorganized its data retention policy to state it retains data for broader business purposes including improving products and protecting systems, while removing previous specific examples and retention criteria, making it less clear exactly how long specific types of your data will be kept. You should review your consent settings for marketing communications and verify what contact methods you have authorized, particularly if you have concerns about automated or AI-generated calls.
View change record →Microsoft's privacy policy now provides a less detailed explanation of how long your data is retained. Previously, the policy included specific examples, such as how long deleted emails remain in your system before final deletion, and listed criteria for deciding retention periods. Now those details are consolidated into a more general statement pointing readers to separate product documentation. This means you'll need to consult multiple documents to understand retention timelines for specific services, which reduces transparency at the point of reading the main privacy policy.
View change record →Microsoft's updated retention policy provides greater specificity about how long your data persists and under what conditions it is deleted. The policy now explicitly states that deleted items from OneDrive and Outlook.com may remain in Microsoft's systems for up to 30 days before permanent removal, even after you empty the Deleted Items folder. Additionally, the updated terms clarify that retention periods depend on whether you have an expectation that Microsoft will keep the data until you actively remove it, and whether automated controls exist to let you access and delete data yourself. You can review Microsoft's privacy dashboard to exercise available deletion controls and understand which services retain your data under these criteria.
View change record →Replacement with more specific 'AI Model Training from User Personal Data' provision suggests shift toward emphasizing model training rather than general AI feature improvement.
View full change record →Provision changed from empty excerpt to detailed specification of AI data collection including prompts, content, responses, and usage patterns with explicit purposes.
View full change record →Content you enter into Copilot or other AI features, including questions, instructions, and any sensitive information in those prompts, may be collected and used by Microsoft to develop and improve AI systems, subject to available settings and enterprise configuration.
How other platforms handle this
to request that your data be transferred to a third party (data portability)
Your organization may allow you to access and export your data in order to back it up or transfer it to a service outside of Google.
Further, you may take legal actions in relation to any potential breach of your rights regarding the processing of your Personal Information, as well as to lodge complaints before the competent data prot...
"Microsoft collects data from and about you when you use AI features in Microsoft products. This data includes your prompts and the content you provide, the responses you receive, and how you use AI features. We use this data to provide, improve, and develop AI features and Microsoft products and services more broadly.Excerpt from Microsoft Azure's Microsoft Privacy
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: AI data use engages the EU AI Act, GDPR's data minimization and purpose limitation principles, and emerging U.S.
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
Ad personalization controls removed. Contact scanning added. Advertiser data partnerships quietly dropped. A timeline of every change.
Get the research letter
Companies change their terms quietly. We read every version and catch what actually changed. One email a week on the changes that matter and what they mean.
Users interacting with AI features may not realize that their prompts and AI-generated responses can be collected and used for product improvement, which could include sensitive or confidential content depending on how the feature is used.
Content you enter into Copilot or other AI features, including questions, instructions, and any sensitive information in those prompts, may be collected and used by Microsoft to develop and improve AI systems, subject to available settings and enterprise configuration.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 290 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft Azure.