Before You "Rage-Report" a GenAI Issue
I'll admit, I've impatiently sent feedback when using GenAI tools. When a hallucination happens, the QA people at OpenAI, Google/Gemini, and Microsoft (Copilot) have to be told, right?
If you’re the kind of person that likes to help improve software, or if you just can't let it slide, you can provide feedback to people working at Microsoft. It’s one of the ways they legitimately fine tune their algorithms, but it has risks.
So.... be advised if you leave the default clicked to "Yes" in Copilot for Microsoft 365 (below).
Copilot asks if it’s OK to “My prompt and generated response" which are usually NOT seen by any person working at Microsoft, due to the data protections in place. Furthermore, "relevant content samples, and additional log files” will be sent.
What's that mean?
When using Word, a “contextData.json” link appears which, if clicked, shows the exact prompt and response that will be sent (as shown). It’s OK to click that hyperlink (and actually quite interesting) to see how your prompt is augmented before it’s sent to the LLM.
But……
If you click “Yes” here, the prompt and any document or spreadsheet that was referenced in the prompt will be sent to Microsoft. See more detail at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/providing-feedback-about-microsoft-copilot-with-microsoft-365-apps-c481c26a-e01a-4be3-bdd0-aee0b0b2a423
There’s a chance a person at Microsoft or OpenAI will look at that data. So, to be safe, ask your management or IT leaders if you should include the prompt and content samples. Unless your company allows it, you should not click “Yes” to share this data with Microsoft, especially if the .doc or .xls you referenced has organizational information in it.
IT Pros and CISOs can configure specific feedback controls. See more detail at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/manage/manage-feedback-ms-org?view=o365-worldwide#specific-policies-you-can-configure
Moreover, this kind of do/don't decision should be outlined in a GenAI Policy published by the organization's CISO or AI Center of Excellence. See more detail about Preparing for Copilot for Microsoft 365 - eGroup Enabling Technologies (egroup-us.com)