What are Microsoft’s commitments to data security and privacy?

Grounded in users’ business data, Copilot uses cutting-edge AI to help users work across their business data in a secure, compliant, privacy-preserving way, delivering accurate, relevant, contextual results. Copilot large language models (LLMs) are not trained on your organisation’s tenant data. Your data never leaves its secure partition. Copilot automatically inherits your organisation’s security, compliance, and privacy policies for Microsoft 365. At an individual user level, Copilot works like an enterprise search today: it can access only the data to which the user already has access, enforced by the same technology that Microsoft has been using for years to secure customer data in Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft 365 Copilot is deeply integrated in the productivity apps millions of people use and rely on every day for work and life: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and more. The individual user—and the admins—is always in control. Users decide what to use, modify, or discard. Microsoft will share more soon about new tools for IT admins so you can plan with confidence to enable Copilot across your organisation. Building responsibly: Microsoft 365 Copilot is designed for the needs of the enterprise. Microsoft’s efforts are guided by their AI principles and Responsible AI Standard and built on decades of research about grounding and privacy-preserving machine learning.

How does Copilot respect security permissions to ensure that people get access to just the information they can see, or that they should be able to see?

The permissions model within your Microsoft 365 tenant will ensure that data will not unintentionally leak between users and groups. Copilot presents only data that each individual can access using the same underlying controls for data access used in other Microsoft 365 services. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company’s valuable security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes.

Is Microsoft providing lineage information on the source of the training data?

OpenAI has trained the model on publicly available data over a specified period of time that is not trademarked. Microsoft has adjusted some of the weights to make them a better fit in the enterprise environment. Microsoft 365 Copilot does not use customer data—including prompts—to train or improve Microsoft’s large language models (LLMs). They believe the client’s data is their data. So, the existing Microsoft guarantees that the company has always made for enterprise and commercial data to persist and continue, even in this AI era. You can review Microsoft’s privacy policy and service documentation for more information at http://aka.ms/privacy.

Will it be clear where the model is located from a data region point of view in terms of being compliant with local data and privacy laws?

It will be compliant with Microsoft’s data residency and various regional commitments. Your data is not leaving your compliance boundaries, and you will maintain control of your data throughout the entire experience. You, as a client, are always in control of your data, and Microsoft will continue to meet its regional requirements. Data will always follow your organisation’s retention and query policies.

Which data does Copilot use?

Copilot combines 1) Large Language Models, 2) the richness of your data—your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings, and more—in Microsoft Graph, and 3) the Microsoft 365 apps.

Is the model learning from my data? Is Microsoft learning from my data?

According to Microsoft, it is a static service inside the client’s environment, like a user calling their Exchange Online server.

Is Microsoft 365 Copilot available to Not-for-Profits?

Yes, it is. Not-for-profits can access Microsoft 365 Copilot using the commercial offer and add it to their existing qualifying not-for-profit base license such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium. The commercial offer is currently priced at AUD 44.90* per user/month (annual commit) and is available for purchase through Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners such as Professional Advantage. *Price subject to change without prior notice. Please check with PA for the latest pricing.

Where can I purchase Microsoft 365 Copilot?

You can purchase Microsoft 365 Copilot on an annual term via Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) such as Professional Advantage, Enterprise Agreement (EA), or Direct.

How do I enable Copilot in Microsoft 365?

Enabling Copilot in Microsoft 365 depends on your organisation’s subscription and setup. Here’s a clear breakdown of what you need to do: Pre-requisites: Licensing. You need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (separate from your standard Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Business Standard/Premium subscription). Copilot is currently available for Enterprise (E3/E5) and Business (Standard/Premium) customers. Apps and Services. Ensure users can access the apps Copilot works in (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc.). Some advanced features (like security or compliance integration) require Microsoft 365 E5 or add-ons. Data Security and Compliance. Review your information protection, data governance, and access policies, because Copilot uses your Microsoft Graph data (emails, chats, files, calendar, etc.). Steps to enable Copilot: Purchase and Assign Licenses. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin centre → Billing → Purchase services. Search for Microsoft 365 Copilot and purchase licenses. Assign licenses to users via Users → Active users → Select a user → Licenses and apps → Enable Copilot. Check Admin Settings. In the admin centre, ensure apps like Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams are included in user subscriptions. Confirm your cloud storage (OneDrive/SharePoint) is set up correctly so Copilot can access files. Configure Security and Compliance (Recommended). Review sensitivity labels, DLP policies, and conditional access in Microsoft Purview to ensure Copilot respects your organisation’s compliance needs. It is highly recommended that you work with information protection and compliance specialists like Professional Advantage to ensure that you cover all the bases in securing your data before rolling out Copilot. Check out our information management and compliance solution here. Rollout and Training. Start with a pilot group of users to test Copilot in real work scenarios. Provide training on prompts and best practices to maximise productivity. You can also commission Professional Advantage to formally on using Copilot.

What features are included in Microsoft 365 Copilot?

It includes: Foundational Capabilities and Web Grounding. Commercial Data Protection and Enterprise-Grade Data Protection. Copilot in Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Teams. Microsoft Graph Grounding, plus Work IQ grounding across Power BI and Dataverse business data. Copilot Cowork — an agentic mode that plans and completes full tasks, not just single prompts. Choice of AI model, including OpenAI GPT-5.5 and Anthropic Claude, depending on the task. Copilot Vision, for getting answers based on what's on your screen or in front of your camera. Deep citations linking directly to the source section inside a document. Copilot Notebooks for organising chats, outputs, and references by project. Customisation via Copilot Studio. Support for 42 languages. Contact us for a free demo on the latest features of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Is Microsoft Copilot included in Office 365?

To add Microsoft 365 Copilot, your organisation must already have one of these plans: Microsoft 365 plans: E5, E3, F1, F3. Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium. Microsoft 365 Apps for business or Apps for enterprise. Office 365 plans: E5, E3, E1, F3. Other Microsoft 365 services (e.g., Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, Teams Essentials/Enterprise). Education: Microsoft 365 A1, A3, A5; Office 365 A1, A3, A5.

What is the difference between Copilot Chat and Copilot Cowork?

Copilot Chat answers questions and helps you draft content as you work. Copilot Cowork goes further: you describe a task, and it plans and executes the work end-to-end, returning a finished deliverable rather than a starting point. Both sit inside the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, with a toggle to switch between the two. Cowork is billed separately on a usage basis, so it's worth planning budget and governance for it before rollout, something our AI Readiness Consultation covers.

Can I choose which AI model powers Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Microsoft 365 Copilot now supports multiple underlying models, including OpenAI's GPT-5.5 and Anthropic's Claude, and can automatically select the best-fit model for a given task. For example, Claude for visual and presentation work, or GPT-5.5 for deeper research with citations. This gives organisations greater flexibility without requiring users to manually manage model selection.

FAQs - Microsoft 365 Copilot

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Enabling Copilot in Microsoft 365 depends on your organisation’s subscription and setup. Here’s a clear breakdown of what you need to do:

Pre-requisites:
- Licensing. You need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (separate from your standard Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Business Standard/Premium subscription). Copilot is currently available for Enterprise (E3/E5) and Business (Standard/Premium) customers.
- Apps and Services. Ensure users can access the apps Copilot works in (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc.). Some advanced features (like security or compliance integration) require Microsoft 365 E5 or add-ons.
- Data Security and Compliance. Review your information protection, data governance, and access policies, because Copilot uses your Microsoft Graph data (emails, chats, files, calendar, etc.).
Steps to enable Copilot:
- Purchase and Assign Licenses.
  - Go to the Microsoft 365 admin centre → Billing → Purchase services.
  - Search for Microsoft 365 Copilot and purchase licenses.
  - Assign licenses to users via Users → Active users → Select a user → Licenses and apps → Enable Copilot.
- Check Admin Settings.
  - In the admin centre, ensure apps like Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams are included in user subscriptions.
  - Confirm your cloud storage (OneDrive/SharePoint) is set up correctly so Copilot can access files.
- Configure Security and Compliance (Recommended).
  - Review sensitivity labels, DLP policies, and conditional access in Microsoft Purview to ensure Copilot respects your organisation’s compliance needs.
  - It is highly recommended that you work with information protection and compliance specialists like Professional Advantage to ensure that you cover all the bases in securing your data before rolling out Copilot. Check out our information management and compliance solution here.
- Rollout and Training.
  - Start with a pilot group of users to test Copilot in real work scenarios.
  - Provide training on prompts and best practices to maximise productivity.
  - You can also commission Professional Advantage to formally on using Copilot.