Is Copilot private? What Microsoft keeps, reviews, and uses for ads

The Morse teamPublished October 19, 20268 min read

As of October 2026, the Microsoft Copilot app is private from other people unless you share a chat, but not from Microsoft. Microsoft keeps your Copilot chat history with your Microsoft account, lets humans review conversations, can use what you say in Copilot to pick the ads you see, and, in the new app released on August 18, 2026, says your prompts and responses "aren't used to train foundation models" (Microsoft). A work or school account is a different product with stronger contractual protections, covered near the end.

We read Microsoft's Copilot support pages for individuals, its older Copilot privacy FAQ and privacy controls pages, its chat history and privacy dashboard help, its work and school data protection pages, and the Microsoft Privacy Statement (last updated September 2026) on October 19, 2026. Microsoft deserves credit for the August change. It moved the new consumer app off training on your chats without making you find a switch, while most apps in our training comparison still train by default.

Microsoft Copilot privacy at a glance

Personal Microsoft accounts on the new Copilot app (web, desktop, and mobile), read October 19, 2026.

The new app's controls page names each toggle and how to turn it off, but on October 19, 2026 it didn't say which ones start on.

Does Copilot train on your data?

Not in the new app, for foundation models. Microsoft's page for the app released August 18, 2026 says: "Prompts, responses, and your file contents when using the Microsoft Copilot app aren't used to train foundation models" (Microsoft). The same page says optional feedback may be used "to improve Microsoft Copilot" but not to train the foundation models.

The new app's privacy controls cover Memory, Shared experiences, Chat history, Web search, Personalized advertising, and importing browser data from Edge, with no training setting among them (Microsoft).

The older app worked the other way. Its FAQ says Microsoft uses "your voice and conversation activity with Copilot, including the images or files you upload" for AI training unless you're in an excluded group or opted out (Microsoft). Its switches are "Training on conversation activity" and "Training on voice conversations": on copilot.com, select your profile icon, your profile name, then Privacy (Microsoft). Even then, Microsoft says opting out "will not exclude your conversations from being used for other general product or system improvements nor from use for advertising."

The Microsoft Privacy Statement, which covers all of Microsoft's products, is broader. It still says "we may use your data to develop, train, and fine-tune our AI models, including large language models (LLMs)" (Microsoft). Its "Learn more" link next to that sentence goes to the older app's FAQ. For how Copilot compares with 14 other apps, see which AI companies train on your data.

Which Copilot rules apply to you?

The new ones, if you use Copilot in a browser. Microsoft's older FAQ and older privacy controls page both carry the same note: "If you're using Microsoft Copilot on the web, or if you've updated to or downloaded the new version of the Microsoft Copilot app," see the new pages instead (Microsoft).

The older rules still apply to a Windows, Mac, or phone app you haven't updated. A Google search for "is copilot private" on October 19, 2026 still listed that older FAQ as a top result from Microsoft, so someone asking this question can land on training and 18-month rules that no longer describe the web app.

How long does Copilot keep conversations?

Microsoft doesn't publish a period for the new app. Its controls page says Copilot "keeps your prior conversations with Copilot so you can revisit them or continue them at any time," without a number (Microsoft). The older app's FAQ said: "By default, we store conversation activity for 18 months" (Microsoft). It also kept uploaded files "no longer than 18 months."

The Privacy Statement doesn't fill the gap. It says Microsoft keeps personal data "for as long as necessary," that "actual retention periods can vary significantly," and to "See relevant product documentation" (Microsoft). The new app's product documentation we read gave no period.

How do you delete Copilot chat history?

One chat at a time in the app, or all of it from the privacy dashboard.

• One chat: in the Chats list on the left, pick the conversation, select ...More, then Delete (Microsoft).
• Everything: sign in to the Microsoft privacy dashboard, go to Privacy > Empower your productivity > Copilot > Your Copilot app activity history > Copilot apps, and choose Delete all activity history (Microsoft). The same screen offers Export all activity history as a CSV file.
• Memories: open Settings, then Personalization, select Manage next to Saved memories, and choose Delete all memories (Microsoft). Microsoft says turning the toggle off "doesn't automatically delete already saved memories."

Microsoft's chat history help adds a 30-day window. If you turn off the Chat history toggle under Personalization, inferences Copilot made from past chats are deleted after 30 days, and turning it back on within those 30 days brings them back (Microsoft).

Does Copilot use your chats for ads?

Yes, it can. Microsoft says that if you use Copilot without a Microsoft 365 subscription, "you might see advertising in Copilot" (Microsoft). Generic ads are picked from "the most recent content of your current conversation." Personalized ads "might use your chat history, saved memories, and other Microsoft data you've chosen to share."

To stop personalized ads in Copilot, open Settings, then Personalization, and turn off Allow ads personalization. The Privacy Statement says ads may relate to "your Copilot conversations (including files you share)" (Microsoft). Copilot doesn't show personalized ads to anyone under 18, whatever the settings.

Your chats can also shape Bing, Edge, and MSN. Microsoft's example is that a chat about vacation ideas lets "Bing and MSN show you content tailored to your upcoming plans" (Microsoft). The toggle is One shared experience, under Settings > Personalization, and it's separate from the ads setting.

Does Microsoft read your Copilot chats?

People at Microsoft can. Its Copilot page for young people says: "Humans may review your conversations in Copilot for safety, legal, product improvement, or troubleshooting" (Microsoft). The older FAQ added that "an opt-out of human review is not available" and that Microsoft works with "external research organizations" that "can help review Copilot conversation logs" (Microsoft).

Courts and police can ask too. The Privacy Statement lists disclosure to "respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies" (Microsoft). We cover how that has played out for AI chats in can AI chats be subpoenaed.

Recall, the Windows feature on Copilot+ PCs, is separate from the Copilot app. Microsoft says it's opt-in and its snapshots are stored and analyzed on the device (Microsoft).

Is Microsoft 365 Copilot for work more private?

Yes, by contract. Microsoft renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot to Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to Microsoft Copilot Chat, so the work and personal products now share a name (Microsoft Learn). The difference is the account you sign in with.

With a work or school account you get enterprise data protection, under Microsoft's Data Protection Addendum and Product Terms, "with Microsoft acting as a data processor" (Microsoft Learn). Prompts and responses "aren't used to train foundation models," and the chat is encrypted during your session (Microsoft). Your prompts, the Bing searches they trigger, and the responses are logged, and your IT admin can view them. Web searches go to Bing with "user and tenant identifiers removed," under Bing's own terms as a separate data controller (Microsoft Learn).

So a work account is more private from Microsoft and less private from your employer.

How Morse keeps your chats out of a Microsoft account

Copilot runs inside your Microsoft account, where the app version you happen to have decides the rules, and your chats sit in that account next to your Bing, Edge, MSN, and ad settings. Morse is a web app with over 30 models, open and closed, and no Microsoft account behind any of them.

• Anonymous, for GPT, Claude, and Gemini without the provider knowing it's you. Our proxy removes your account, email, and IP address and sends the message under Morse's own account. The provider sees the message without knowing it's you, and may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy, so leave out details that name you.
• Private, for chats you'd rather no host keep. New chats start here. Open-weight models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM, plus Grok, run under Morse's zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers. Where a provider confirms zero retention on each reply, Morse checks it and refuses a reply that doesn't.
• E2EE, for what no one should read. Your browser verifies the secure enclave's hardware attestation, then encrypts the message so only that enclave can read it, and Morse's servers relay text they can't read. This rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed. E2EE chats come with Pro, at $19 a month; here's how end-to-end encrypted AI chat works.

Your chat history is stored in your browser, encrypted, not on our servers, so there's no retention period to look up and no privacy dashboard to clear. It locks when you sign out and takes two keys to open, one of which never leaves your device. Morse doesn't train AI on your content, sell your data, or show ads, and it runs no advertising trackers or third-party analytics (Morse privacy policy). Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities. Clearing your browser or deleting your account removes your chats for good, and Morse can't recover them, so keep a copy of anything you need.

So is Copilot private enough for you?

• Training: update to the new app or use it on the web, where Microsoft says chats don't train foundation models. Morse doesn't train AI on your chats at all.
• Ads: turn off Allow ads personalization and One shared experience. Morse shows no ads.
• Retention: delete chats and memories yourself, since Microsoft publishes no period for the new app. On Morse, the only copy is in your browser.
• Human review: keep anything sensitive out of Copilot. In Morse's Anonymous mode, the provider gets the words without your account, and in E2EE, Morse's servers can't read them.

For the wider picture across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Meta AI, read are AI chats private.

You can send a first message from the Morse home page without an account, or start free with no Microsoft account involved.