Wilson likened the capability to the free Copilot Chat that can be enabled in enterprise M365 deployments: it also has limited access to corporate data because it’s grounded in web data rather than a business’s own content.
Still, enterprise IT and security teams should be wary of how the capability functions in practice, said Jeff Pollard, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. “While Microsoft’s announcement offers assurances that its existing data protection mechanisms apply and it will stay in the Copilot service boundary, it’s going to have to prove that. And security researchers — and hackers — will attempt to see if those assertions are true,” he said.
One consideration is who pays for Copilot and whether employers should receive any compensation for using their personal license. It’s similar to the rise of “bring your own device” policies of a decade or so ago, said Wilson, and might require an update to an organization’s policies.
