Microsoft Is Not My Copilot

I am a user of Microsoft 365 and I do pay for a yearly subscription. I signed up many years ago after I got my current job and I do like it. I get use of all of the Office suite programs (Excel is far superior to Google Sheets and Apple Numbers)  and 1TB of OneDrive space which is useful since I take photos for a German brass band. However, I recently got a notification that my subscription will be upgraded to the new Microsoft 365 with Copilot. That is, their AI integration that will help me with…things…I guess. Suffice it to say, I don't want it. Luckily, plenty of people have assistance on Bluesky and all I had to do was go to my account, click cancel, and Microsoft gave me the option to continue using Microsoft 365 Classic for the same price I'm paying now. So I did that, but why did I even have to?

It sucks that companies are willing to play games with their customers like this. The notification said nothing about a $30/year price increase for the upgrade, but they automatically assumed that I wanted it and so they signed me up for it. Luckily, I checked my account because lots of companies like to this shit. Back in the 1990's, that procedure was called "slamming" and it was considered by lawmakers to be illegal. Of course, back then it was done over the phone, so it's completely different now I guess. I did switch to Classic and turned off Copilot where I could, but it leaves me with another thought in the back of my mind.

While I did opt out of the AI upgrade (it should be opt-in, honestly), will Copilot still be in the Classic suite, but running silently in the background uploading my data to Microsoft servers and training their AI on it? That is something that isn't clear and I would really like an answer. I know there is concern in the medical and law fields because mixing patient/client data is big, fat no-no and could result in loss of licenses. I would like something in writing that Copilot will be completely disconnected from the Classic version of the suite.

I would be more willing to play ball if AI companies were actually ethical and didn't steal intellectual property for training models. Fine, if you really want to use user data, then lower the price of the software for anyone who opts in. Those who opt out will pay the original price and no data is uploaded for training purposes. I wouldn't expect artists or authors to give up their work because the idea of AI making art or writing novels is ludicrous. If AI was introduced as a tool rather than as a substitute for artists, maybe people would have a different attitude toward it. I could see it used for generating reports or invoices, or maybe to help construct letters or resumes. The thing is, people don't trust the AI companies and don't want AI spying and siphoning data. Go away until you can learn to play nicely.