Microsoft said the bug meant that its Copilot AI chatbot was reading and summarizing paying customers' confidential emails, bypassing data protection policies.

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Microsoft confirmed a bug (CW1226324) in Copilot Chat that allowed the AI to read and summarize confidential emails since January, bypassing customers' data loss prevention policies. The issue affected Microsoft 365 customers using Copilot Chat across Office products like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. A fix began rolling out in early February. The number of affected customers has not been disclosed. The incident coincides with the European Parliament's IT department blocking built-in AI features on lawmakers' devices over similar confidentiality concerns.

Microsoft says Office bug exposed customers’ confidential emails to Copilot AI