Do you want Microsoft Copilot sniffing your OneDrive files? Too late
Many Windows users look down on OneDrive and Copilot alike, so the combination of the two might seem like the worst of all worlds. Expect the new Copilot for OneDrive to be equally polarizing.
Microsoft is launching Copilot for OneDrive for the Web, which has been exclusively a feature for business users until now. Today, Microsoft begins rolling it out to consumers — on the cloud, and not on your PC.
Many PC users detest Windows’ OneDrive function, which launches, slurps up your data, and begins sending it to the cloud — taking up CPU cycles and broadband bandwidth. Copilot is really just a glorified app at this point, and not overwhelmingly useful even in the cloud. Anything that Microsoft deems a productivity boost for Copilot is often hidden behind a subscription. (In this case, it is as well: Copilot for OneDrive is only available with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, and only by the person who pays that bill.)
Microsoft said Thursday that if you meet those criteria, it’s going to be turning on Copilot for OneDrive automatically for users over the next several months, through June. A related FAQ doesn’t seem to indicate that you’ll have any choice in the matter, either, although Microsoft claims that it will only work on the files you specify:
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“Copilot uses your files and files that you have permission for to provide you with insights on your content,” the FAQ says. “Copilot can only be activated on the files that you select in OneDrive.”
Microsoft is pitching Copilot as a tool to enable certain features, some of which do appear to be useful. There’s the ubiquitous summarization, for one, which would allow you to upload a copy of a lease agreement and have Copilot summarize it. Copilot can also compare documents using AI — deduplication programs can also do the same to tell you which file is larger or more recent, but Copilot will do this analytically, examining the contents of a document. Naturally, you can also query a document, to “ask” some healthcare paperwork what would happen if you couldn’t pay your bill on time.
There are some limitations: you can only compare five documents at a time, and they have to be documents (Office files like .DOC and .PPT file formats, Web pages, or M365 formats like .LOOP files) and not pictures or encrypted files.
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Microsoft will also charge you for using Copilot, via its “AI credits.” Each use of Copilot deducts one AI credit, and Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers receive 60 AI credits per month.
It sounds like Microsoft intends for Copilot to not have access to specific files until you authorize it. But that probably won’t satisfy privacy-conscious users who are concerned about Microsoft going through their digital closet.
Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers’ News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.
