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Frequently asked questions about Copilot

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Note

The updates to Microsoft Copilot are currently rolling out and are expected to complete within a few weeks. During this time, you may see a mix of Copilot with commercial data protection and the updated Copilot offering enterprise data protection.

Enterprise data protection (EDP)

What is enterprise data protection (EDP)?

For users signed in with a Microsoft Entra account, Microsoft Copilot offers enterprise data protection (EDP).

Enterprise data protection (EDP) refers to controls and commitments, under the Data Protection Addendum (DPA) and the Product Terms, that apply to customer data for users of Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Copilot. The use of the term EDP is not meant to limit the benefits offered under the DPA and Product Terms.

To learn more about enterprise data protection, visit https://aka.ms/EDPLearn.

What happens to commercial data protection now that Microsoft Copilot is updating to enterprise data protection? What will happen to the existing service plan?

With these updates, commercial data protection no longer applies in Microsoft Copilot. Instead, Microsoft Copilot offers enterprise data protection (EDP) for users signed in with a Microsoft Entra account. As a result, the "Commercial data protection for Microsoft Copilot" service plan is retired (as indicated by "RETIRED" being added to the service plan name) and no longer applies. If you previously used the service plan to manage Microsoft Copilot, you don't need to alter it to take advantage of enterprise data protection.

Managing Copilot

What actions do IT admins need to take to gain access to enterprise data protection (EDP) in Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot offers enterprise data protection (EDP) to users who sign in with a Microsoft Entra account—no IT admin action is required.

To ensure people across your organization have easy access to Microsoft Copilot and can benefit from its security and experience updates, we recommend you enable in-app access today by pinning Microsoft Copilot. If you elect to pin Microsoft Copilot for your users, it appears in the Microsoft 365 app and will soon appear in Microsoft Teams and Outlook. The option to pin Copilot can be found under Settings on the Copilot page in the Microsoft 365 admin center. (Global Admin permissions required).

Where can I learn more about pinning Microsoft Copilot for my users?

For more information on how to pin Microsoft Copilot in the Microsoft 365 app, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook, see How to pin Microsoft Copilot in the Microsoft 365 app, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook.

How can I ensure that users in my network access Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection?

For detailed information, see How to access Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection using an Entra account.

What IPs do I need to allow in my network for Microsoft Copilot to work?

For detailed information, see Network requirements.

Do I still need to assign the Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 Extra Features license to allow my users with a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 “Original” subscription to access Copilot with enterprise data protection?

No. With the recent update to Microsoft Copilot, users just need to sign in to Microsoft Copilot with their Microsoft Entra accounts to use Copilot with enterprise data protection.

How can I prevent access to Microsoft Copilot for my users?

To learn more, see Removing access to Microsoft Copilot.

Access and availability

Where can my users access Microsoft Copilot if they're signed in with their Microsoft Entra account?

For details, see Where to access Microsoft Copilot.

Are there any restrictions on the types of users who can access Microsoft Copilot and receive enterprise data protection?

Users who sign in to Microsoft Copilot with a Microsoft Entra account receive enterprise data protection. Government cloud customers and students under age 18 aren't yet eligible.

Can I use Copilot with any browser?

Copilot supports Microsoft Edge (desktop and mobile) and other major non-Microsoft browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

Is Copilot accessible via API?

No, we don't offer an API. Customers interested in extending Copilot should look at Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Studio.

Privacy and protections

Are prompts and responses in Copilot logged?

With enterprise data protection (EDP), prompts and responses are logged, retained, and available for audit, eDiscovery, and advanced Microsoft Purview capabilities. The specific controls vary depending on the underlying subscription plan. For more information on EDP, visit Enterprise data protection for prompts and responses.

Are prompts and responses in Copilot used to train foundation models?

No, prompts and responses aren't used to train foundation models under enterprise data protection.

Since Copilot is built on OpenAI's ChatGPT models, does Copilot share any information with OpenAI?

No, your data is not available to OpenAI or used to train OpenAI models. Learn more about how Microsoft protects user and organizational data.

How are web search queries to Bing handled with EDP?

For information on web search queries in Copilot, see Privacy and security of generated web search queries.

For information on how to manage web search queries, please see Managing web search queries in Microsoft Copilot.

Does Copilot work with Bing SafeSearch settings?

Yes, Copilot works with all Bing SafeSearch settings, including Strict.

Does Microsoft Copilot fall under the terms of the Data Protection Addendum (DPA)?

The use of Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Copilot, as used by organizations, are covered by the terms of the Data Protection Addendum (DPA) and Product Terms, with Microsoft acting as a data processor.

To learn more about enterprise data protection, visit https://aka.ms/EDPLearn.

How can I prevent sensitive internal content from being summarized using Copilot in Microsoft Edge for Business?

Edge for Business comes with native capabilities for enforcing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies. To learn more about DLP when using Copilot in Microsoft Edge for Business, visit How Data Loss Prevention is enforced with Copilot in Edge. Note: Page summarization is coming soon.

Could I be at risk of copyright infringement by using material generated by Copilot?

Microsoft’s Copilot Copyright Commitment defends customers against third-party intellectual property claims arising from the customer's use and distribution of the output content generated by Microsoft's Copilot services. For content copyright concerns, see our Customer Copyright Commitment.

Does Microsoft Copilot support HIPAA compliance?

Microsoft Copilot does not support HIPAA compliance at this time.

Features

What features are available in Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection?

Microsoft Copilot has many of the same features as before plus a few new ones. Some previous features are not immediately available, and a few are no longer available.

New features available in Copilot:

  • Previous chats: Lets users access previous Copilot chats for reference or to continue the chat.

Features not immediately available (coming soon):

  • Image upload: Lets users take photos, or upload or copy and paste images into Copilot to use in a prompt.
  • Data analysis: Copilot uses the Python programming language to help users perform complex data analysis such as coding, visualization, and math.
  • Voice input and Read aloud: Lets users interact with Copilot by using the microphone or by listening to Copilot's responses.
  • Rich web answers: Interactive response cards about current web-based data such as weather or stock prices.
  • Export: Lets users export and save their chat conversation into a Word, PDF, or text document.
  • Contextual prompt suggestions (Copilot in Edge): References open pages within Microsoft Edge as part of the prompt to help users create relevant prompts within Copilot.
  • Page summarization (Copilot in Edge): Lets users summarize an open webpage or PDF in Edge.
  • Rewrite (Copilot in Edge): Lets users edit typed text for tone, format, and length within an open page in Microsoft Edge. The previous policy settings for Rewrite will be removed until this feature is made available again. See Copilot in Edge.

Features that will no longer be available:

  • Tone selector: Let users select one of a few preset tones for Copilot's response. Without tone selector, if a user wants Copilot to respond in a specific tone, they can specify the tone as part of their prompt.
  • Notebook: Let users iterate and refine their prompts in multiple turns. Users can now iterate and refine their prompts over multiple turns in the chat box.
  • Compose (Copilot in Edge): Provided a template for users to draft content in different tones, formats, and lengths. Without this feature, users can edit text using Rewrite in Microsoft Edge.
  • Copilot button (Microsoft Edge mobile application): The dedicated Copilot button in the Microsoft Edge mobile application. We recommend that users with Microsoft Entra accounts use the Microsoft 365 mobile application to access Copilot for work or education.

How does Copilot handle uploaded files?

Copilot can analyze the content of files you upload into the chat box. This means Copilot can provide new insights when working with PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, photos, and more. To upload a file, select the paperclip icon in the corner of the chat box or drag and drop a file into the chat box. After uploading, the content of the file is treated as if the user had copied and pasted it directly into the chat. Uploaded file content can then be used for various tasks, like:

  • summarizing a long Word document,
  • extracting specific types of information from a PDF,
  • translating the content of a PowerPoint presentation,
  • and much more.

Per enterprise data protection promises, the uploaded file and its contents aren't saved nor used to train the model.

Are Copilot Pages available in Microsoft Copilot?

For Microsoft 365 Copilot customers, Pages will be generally available later in September 2024. Pages will be available in Microsoft Copilot in the coming weeks. Learn more about Pages and other improvements to Copilot in the Microsoft 365 apps.

Why am I still seeing Notebook and Compose in Copilot in the Microsoft Edge sidebar?

If you are not using Microsoft Edge stable 128.0.2739.54+, you may see these features. We recommend updating Microsoft Edge to the latest version to remove these features as they are not compliant with enterprise data protection.

Microsoft Copilot vs. Microsoft 365 Copilot

What's the difference between Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is grounded in data from the public web in the Bing search index. It combines the power of generative AI with up-to-date information from the web. Because it draws on the vast amount of public web information, it's useful for conducting research, finding resources, and staying updated with the latest news and trends.

Unlike with Microsoft 365 Copilot, users cannot invoke organizational content like files, emails, or chats when prompting in Copilot chat. Microsoft Copilot also doesn't have extensibility like Microsoft Copilot 365. Learn more about Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Using Copilot

Outside of ensuring that students and faculty sign in with their Microsoft Entra ID, what else is recommended to prepare education institutions for Copilot?

Controls in the Microsoft Admin Center allow you to validate your school type and apply age group classifications to your users. For more information, see Managing Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) access for Faculty and Higher Education 18+ students.

What's the best way to verify the accuracy of information provided by Copilot?

Copilot answers complex questions by distilling information from multiple web sources into a single response. Copilot provides linked citations to these answers so the user can further explore and research as they would with traditional search.

I need help getting my users started on Copilot. What should I do next?

Visit the Copilot page on Microsoft Adoption to download the Copilot End User Adoption Kit for your organization.

Are there advertisements in Microsoft Copilot when users are signed in with their Microsoft Entra ID?

No. When users sign in with a Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Copilot offers enterprise data protection and a simplified, ad-free experience for work and education.