SIDE-BY-SIDE · 2 OF 3
Two platforms.
Same questions.
GitHub Copilot
DEVELOPER / CODING
PROMPT
GitHub does not claim ownership over code inputs. Code submitted to Copilot remains the user's property.
OUTPUT
GitHub does not assert ownership over code suggestions. Users are responsible for determining the IP status of generated code.
TRAINING
GitHub Privacy Statement confirms: 'Product Development and Improvement: We use Personal Data to develop and improve our products, services, and technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. This includes improving features, developing new offerings, enhancing safety and security capabilities, and training models. We apply appropriate technical safeguards, including aggregation and de-identification techniques where feasible.' Affiliates including Microsoft may also receive data for 'product development and improvement (including training and improving artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies).' Individual tier: code snippets and telemetry may be used for training (opt-out in IDE settings). Business/Enterprise: training on user code is off by default, no data retention beyond session.
COMMERCIAL
Commercial use is the primary intended use case, particularly for Copilot for Business and Enterprise plans.
479 verified findings across the displayed surfaces.
Cursor
DEVELOPER / CODING
PROMPT
Cursor's Privacy Policy does not explicitly address code/prompt ownership but does not claim any IP rights over user code.
OUTPUT
Not explicitly addressed in the Privacy Policy. No ownership claims made by Cursor over generated code suggestions.
TRAINING
Unknown — both cached policy files (cursor_tos.txt and cursor_privacy.txt) are empty (0 bytes). No policy content was reviewable.
COMMERCIAL
Commercial use is the primary intended use for Cursor. No explicit restrictions on commercial use of generated code.
178 verified findings across the displayed surfaces.
Empty Comparison Slot
AIRIN SUMMARY
GitHub Copilot carries highly permissive license terms; Cursor carries highly permissive license terms.FOR ENTERPRISE: GITHUB COPILOT NOT RECOMMENDED · CURSOR NOT RECOMMENDED
↳ Compliance surfaces · side by side
⚡ INTERACTIVE RISK COMPARISON HEATMAP
| RISK SURFACE | GITHUB COPILOT | CURSOR |
|---|---|---|
| PPrompt Ownership | ||
| OOutput Ownership | ||
| TModel Training | ||
| CCommercial Use | ||
| DData Privacy | ||
| $Tier Differences |
* Click any cell in the heatmap matrix to scroll directly to its verbatim policy citations below.
📂 Intellectual Property & Model Training
P
SURFACE 01
Prompt Ownership
GitHub Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
GitHub does not claim ownership over code inputs. Code submitted to Copilot remains the user's property.
“If you choose to give us any ideas, know-how, algorithms, code contributions, suggestions, enhancement requests, recommendations or any other feedback for our products or services (collectively, “Feedback”), you acknowledge and agree that GitHub will have a royalty-free, fully pa…”
Feedback provided during Beta Preview (which could include code, algorithms, or technical know-how) is subject to an extremely broad, irrevocable, perpetual, sublicensable, commercially exploitable license with no compensation to the user.
Cursor
MED⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Cursor's Privacy Policy does not explicitly address code/prompt ownership but does not claim any IP rights over user code.
“ 5.1. Service. Anysphere and its licensors shall own and retain all right, title and interest in and to the Service, all improvements, enhancements or modifications thereto, and all intellectual property rights associated with the foregoing. There are no implied licenses in these…”
O
SURFACE 02
Output Ownership
GitHub Copilot
MED⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
GitHub does not assert ownership over code suggestions. Users are responsible for determining the IP status of generated code.
“"Output" means responses and suggestions, including code or other material, generated by an AI Feature.”
Output ownership terms are referenced in Section J (AI Features, Training, and Your Data) which is not included in the provided document text. Only the definition of Output is present; the operative ownership/license clauses are absent.
Cursor
MED⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Not explicitly addressed in the Privacy Policy. No ownership claims made by Cursor over generated code suggestions.
“ 5.1. Service. Anysphere and its licensors shall own and retain all right, title and interest in and to the Service, all improvements, enhancements or modifications thereto, and all intellectual property rights associated with the foregoing. There are no implied licenses in these…”
T
SURFACE 03
Model Training
GitHub Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
GitHub Privacy Statement confirms: 'Product Development and Improvement: We use Personal Data to develop and improve our products, services, and technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. This includes improving features, developing new offerings, enhancing safety and security capabilities, and training models. We apply appropriate technical safeguards, including aggregation and de-identification techniques where feasible.' Affiliates including Microsoft may also receive data for 'product development and improvement (including training and improving artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies).' Individual tier: code snippets and telemetry may be used for training (opt-out in IDE settings). Business/Enterprise: training on user code is off by default, no data retention beyond session.
“In addition, for Individual subscribers only: GitHub may use Copilot interaction data — including prompts (inputs), s uggestions (outputs), and code snippets generated during Copilot sessions — to train and improve AI models. This training helps improve code suggestions for all C…”
Individual (Free/Pro/Pro+) subscribers' prompts, outputs, and code snippets are used for AI model training by default. Opt-out is available but must be actively exercised.
Cursor
MED⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Unknown — both cached policy files (cursor_tos.txt and cursor_privacy.txt) are empty (0 bytes). No policy content was reviewable.
“ We do not use Inputs or Suggestions to train our models, or permit third parties to use them for training, unless: (1) they are flagged for security review (in which case we may analyze them to improve our ability to detect and enforce our Terms of Service ), (2) you explicitly…”
C
SURFACE 04
Commercial Use
GitHub Copilot
MED⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Commercial use is the primary intended use case, particularly for Copilot for Business and Enterprise plans.
“It is your responsibility to assess what is appropriate for the situation and implement appropriate safeguards.”
The document places responsibility for assessing appropriateness of use entirely on the user but does not explicitly restrict or permit commercial use of outputs. No affirmative commercial use restriction or permission is stated.
Cursor
MEDHIGH
Commercial use is the primary intended use for Cursor. No explicit restrictions on commercial use of generated code.
“ 1.1. Provision of Access. Anysphere is an applied research company working on automating coding. The Service offers a suite of coding tools driven by machine learning to help developers write code more easily and efficiently and can provide suggested code, outputs or other funct…”
📂 Data Privacy & Governance
D
SURFACE 05
Data Privacy
GitHub Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Individual: training on by default, opt-out available in IDE settings. Business: training off by default, no content retention. Enterprise: same as Business with additional enterprise governance and IP indemnification.
“GitHub and third parties use social media cookies to show you ads and content based on your social media profiles and activity on GitHub’s websites. This ensures that the ads and content you see on our websites and on social media will better reflect your interests. This also ena…”
Third parties can use data collected on GitHub to improve their own products on entirely separate websites, extending data use well beyond the GitHub platform context.
Cursor
MED⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
—
“Anysphere retains your personal data only for as long as necessary to operate the Service effectively and to support legitimate business needs such as legal compliance, safety, dispute resolution, and enforcement of our agreements. The appropriate retention period varies dependin…”
No specific retention periods are stated. 'As long as necessary' and 'legitimate business needs' are vague standards. Safety and system monitoring data is retained for an unspecified 'limited duration' even for ephemeral interactions.
$
SURFACE 06
Tier Differences
GitHub Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Individual: training on by default, opt-out available in IDE settings. Business: training off by default, no content retention. Enterprise: same as Business with additional enterprise governance and IP indemnification.
“When a school or employer supplies your GitHub account, they assume the role of Data Controller for most Personal Data used in our Services. This enables them to: Manage and administer your GitHub account, including adjusting privacy settings. Access and utilize your Person…”
Users on organization-provisioned accounts have significantly reduced privacy protections — their employer or school can access content, files, and usage data and adjust privacy settings.
Cursor
MEDHIGH
—
“ 1.6. Beta Services . From time to time, Anysphere may make Beta Services available to you. Beta Services shall be clearly designated as beta, pilot, limited release, non-production, early access, evaluation or a similar description. You may choose to use or not use such Beta Ser…”