What are Microsoft's Connected Experiences? Do they train AI?

Microsoft have recently rolled out changes to introduce their Large Language Model (LLM) powered agent, Copilot, to all Office 365 users.

While Microsoft have assured users that their data will not be used to train the base LLM, a user’s personal instance of Copilot will learn based on their use of Word.

If you wish to turn off Copilot, you can do so without turning off connected experiences.

How to turn off Copilot in Microsoft 365 Family and Personal subscriptions - Microsoft Support

Many people are recommending turning off Connected Experiences to stop Copilot scraping their data. This will stop Copilot working, but it will also stop many useful services in Word and Powerpoint (including PerfectIt Cloud), and you can disable Copilot while leaving Connected Experiences active.

Microsoft's Connected Experiences are used to serve Add-Ins, such as PerfectIt Cloud, from the Microsoft Add-In Store. It does not, in itself, scrape user data.

Connected Experiences allow Add-Ins to be installed, and also for those Add-Ins to work alongside Office products.

In the case of PerfectIt Cloud, they allow it to run it's checks within Word, show you suggestions and make fixes to your document.

In Microsoft's own words, Connected Experiences:

  • Provide design recommendations, editing suggestions, or data insights based on the Office content, through features like PowerPoint Designer or Translator,

  • Or download online content templates, images, 3D models, videos, and reference materials, including but not limited to Office templates or PowerPoint QuickStarter.

Microsoft have also directly stated in an X post:

"In the M365 apps, we do not use customer data to train LLMs. This setting only enables features requiring internet access like co-authoring a document."

You can read more about Microsoft's Connected Experiences for Microsoft 365 here:

Connected experiences in Office - Microsoft 365 Apps | Microsoft Learn

You can also read more about Microsoft's consumer data use in more detail here:

Transparency and Control in Consumer Data Use   | Microsoft Copilot Blog