back to article Microsoft may store your conversations with Bing if you're not an enterprise user

Microsoft prohibits users from reverse engineering or harvesting data from its AI software to train or improve other models, and will store inputs passed into its products as well as any output generated. The details emerged as companies face fresh challenges with the rise of generative AI. People want to know what …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    John Deer'ing

    Considering the public at large has arned all the AI models of these corporations, you'd think you'd be more appreciated.

    1. HMcG

      Re: John Deer'ing

      > public at large …

      Indeed. It’s hardly a surprise that AI’s have a tendency to just make stuff up when it suits them.

  2. Someone Else Silver badge

    Having the user base also be "beta" testers is one thing...

    But to be the source of training data for Micros~1 is yet another. Although this should really not surprise anyone (and would have been assumed by savvy users anyhow).

    And users actually pay for the "privilege" of being grist for the mill. Ain't Corporate America grand?

  3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    I wonder...

    I wonder how many of those new MS Ts&Cs MS have "broken" themselves by scraping world +dog to train their own AI? And are they still doing it, despite trying to lock down their own toy box? When will we see them add a new condition banning scraping the published results of their AI spewings and how will any webscraper be able to tell what is MS AI generated and what isn't?

  4. 43300 Silver badge

    Nothing surprising here! Frankly, I'd have been surprised if they weren't storing the conversations...

  5. Mark Allen

    Opt-Out

    Anything in the Ts and Cs as to how I opt-out of the AI data collection \ Co-Pilot stuff in Win11 and Office?

    Why does this stuff not go two ways?

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Opt-Out

      Well there is a way…

      https://www.webnots.com/how-to-disable-bing-ai-chat-and-web-results-in-windows-search-and-edge/

      But given the AI chatbot is enabled by default expect Windows “securty and feature” updates to override user settings…

    2. Helcat Silver badge

      Re: Opt-Out

      I'd argue this should be a feature you turn on (positive opt-in) so you are making an informed decision to agree with the T&C's.

      So opting-out would only be needed if you'd previously decided to try the AI and have now decided it's not worth the time taken to check the results.

      However, if they're just hooking up their AI to any and every product they sell... and push it out to everyone via updates... then it needs to be disabled by default and a very clear and separate tab presented where you choose to go and enable else they're potentially in breach of GDPR (if in the EU/UK) and probably quite a few other laws, too.

      Hmm... it's MS: They'll push this out and not tell anyone it's on by default and by opening Word or whatever, you've agreed to the updated T&C's, even if you didn't get a pop up warning you of this.

  6. DoubleDave

    Oh noes!

    Conversations with bing??? There must be 3 very worried people in the world right now!!

    1. deadlockvictim

      Re: Oh noes!

      Some of us hate Google & Facebook more than we hate Micros~1. Not much more, I will grant you that, but still more than Micros~1.

      That being said, I'm not one of the three people mentioned although I do like Bing as a search engine.

      And, as for Google, in the end, I will surely love Big Brother but at the moment I still savouring the new cream paper.

    2. the Jim bloke

      Re: Oh noes!

      There must be 3 very worried people in the world right now!!..

      and they all have upvoted you - I did not think there was that much overlap between Reg readership and bing.. .. .. victims

    3. Alumoi Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: Oh noes!

      Nothing beats Bing at finding porn. Nothing!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Indirectly scraping AI content

    The most famous of all the Monsanto patent infringement cases involves Canadian canola farmer Percy Schmeiser. Monsanto’s genetically engineered canola was found on Schmeiser’s land, but it is undisputed that he neither purchased nor planted the company’s seed. For seven years Schmeiser fought to prove that the seed arrived on his land through genetic drift or from trucks carrying seed to grain elevators. Unfortunately, the lower courts were not concerned as to how the seed wound up on the land, only that Schmeiser knew he possessed Monsanto’s intellectual property and had not paid for it. As Schmeiser’s attorney Terry Zakreski, explained: “Monsanto has a problem. It’s trying to own a piece of Mother Nature that naturally spreads itself around.” Even the vice president for Monsanto Canada, Ray Mowling, concurs: “[Monsanto] acknowledges that some cross-pollination occurs, and acknowledges the awkwardness of prosecuting farmers who may be inadvertently growing Monsanto seed through cross-pollination or via innocent trades with patent-violating neighbors.” The Supreme Court of Canada heard Schmeiser’s appeal of the lower courts’ decisions on January 20, 2004, and on May 21, 2004 publicly announced its decision. Schmeiser was found guilty of patent infringement yet not liable to pay Monsanto any damages. We can assume that Schmeiser is just one of many farmers who has been targeted for possessing a technology he neither bought nor planted.

  8. xyz Silver badge

    I've heard of Bing...

    Isn't that the pR0n search engine?

    Milky milky!

    In case you forgot...

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-3x9jqPV_VY

  9. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    be mindful about what you type into Bing

    I'm curious: doesn't DDG use Bing as its back end? In which case, must we now also be more cautious about what we type there? (Or possibly, more cautious than we are already?)

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    YANITMC

    Yet

    Another

    Nail

    In

    The

    Microsoft

    Coffin

    As they don't care about us, we should not care about them. Go and die MS... and make it very painful.

    Posting AC as my domain gets trolled enough from MS owned IP addresses as it is and they do SFA about it.

  11. navarac Silver badge

    Article title

    I don't think there is ANT DOUBT that Microsoft WOULD store your Bing conversations - Not may. Why wouldn't they?

  12. Kev99 Silver badge

    Mictosoft's TOS for its AI rank right down there with 1) Don't be wet, water; 2) Don't be cold, ice; and 3) We know you'll do exactly as we say.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If ti is shown that LLM's provide "transformative" change on data scraped from the web, books, etc, therefore making it legal, then shouldn't using the output of existing LLM's to train new LLM's also be transformative, and therefore legal?

    Or is it just the rule that the biggest and the baddest get to own it?

    Overall though, training an LLM with another LLM sounds like a recipe for inbreeding weaknesses.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And probably does if you are an enterprise customer ...

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