Recently, a writer passed along post that Microsoft had added an unannounced change called “Connected Experiences” that allowed AI to scan your documents. This is likely the post that started it:

The descriptions of what the tool does seem rather…vague. I’m less than warm and fuzzy (an expression from my father) about AI scanning a story I’m writing. At work, a senior manager reported that if you put something in AI, it would absorb that item into its ecosystem. A business book I read stated that the goal of Big Data was to have 100% or nearly 100% of all data.

I suspect Microsoft will get some pushback on it. But you can turn it off. Take it slow. Microsoft pretty well buried it, so you’ll have to look carefully for some of the next steps. (Took me three tries and I wrote this instruction for my future self. Upgrades may turn it back on without telling me.)

  1. Click FILE > OPTIONS
  2. On the left menu, click TRUST CENTER.
  3. Click the TRUST CENTER SETTINGS button (it’s not obvious)
  4. On the left menu, click PRIVACY OPTIONS, then click the PRIVACY SETTINGS button.
  5. Scroll down to Connected Experiences and deselect all the settings.