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

Microsoft revealed in a recent announcement that a bug in its Office software exposed paying customers' confidential emails to its Copilot AI chatbot, which was reading and summarizing the content without proper authorization, bypassing established data protection policies and potentially compromising sensitive business and personal communications. The tech giant acknowledged the security lapse as part of its ongoing transparency efforts regarding AI system limitations, confirming that the issue has since been resolved and no customer data was stored or retained by the AI system during the period when the bug was active. Microsoft assured affected customers that appropriate measures have been implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future, though the company has not specified exactly how many customers were impacted or the duration of the vulnerability. This incident highlights growing concerns about AI systems accessing and processing sensitive information without proper safeguards as organizations increasingly integrate AI into productivity tools.