Microsoft states in its terms of service that its Copilot AI tool is intended solely for “entertainment purposes” and should not be used for important decisions or advice, reports Tom’s Hardware. The company also warns that AI can make mistakes, provide misleading answers, and may not always work as intended. “Use Copilot at your own risk.”
It’s an interesting bit of hedging given that Microsoft has been so heavily pushing Copilot as a productivity tool, going so far as to integrate it into almost every nook and cranny of Windows 11. Sure, that’s the kind of language you’ll find in disclaimers across most AI tools, but Microsoft sure isn’t treating Copilot as just for “entertainment.”
In a comment to PCMag, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “The ‘entertainment purposes’ phrasing is legacy language from when Copilot originally launched as a search companion service in Bing.” They also added: “As the product has evolved, that language is no longer reflective of how Copilot is used today and will be altered with our next update.”
That said, even Microsoft is starting to realize that maybe they’ve put all their eggs in the wrong basket. The company recently said it’s rethinking its AI ambitions and it’ll scale back Copilot in Windows 11. Perhaps not the worst move, considering how poorly Copilot has been received by the public—we even think Copilot is the new Internet Explorer.
