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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.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
WORKFLOW & AUTOMATION
PROMPT
Microsoft does not claim ownership of customer prompts or inputs. Customer data remains customer property under Microsoft's data governance framework.
OUTPUT
Microsoft doesn't claim ownership of the output of the service. Outputs are treated as customer data.
TRAINING
Microsoft does not use M365 Copilot customer content to train foundation models. The Microsoft Privacy Statement (March 2026) states for enterprise Copilot: 'Microsoft 365 Copilot...provides enterprise-grade data protection' and 'will use the content in your files only when you ask it to perform a specific action on that specific content.' General Microsoft AI statement covers manual review of automated method outputs for improving accuracy, but enterprise Copilot data is explicitly protected.
COMMERCIAL
Microsoft 365 Copilot is available as an enterprise add-on. Commercial use of all outputs is permitted.
766 verified findings across the displayed surfaces.
Empty Comparison Slot
AIRIN SUMMARY
GitHub Copilot carries highly permissive license terms; Microsoft 365 Copilot carries highly permissive license terms.FOR ENTERPRISE: GITHUB COPILOT NOT RECOMMENDED · MICROSOFT 365 COPILOT NOT RECOMMENDED
↳ Compliance surfaces · side by side
⚡ INTERACTIVE RISK COMPARISON HEATMAP
| RISK SURFACE | GITHUB COPILOT | MICROSOFT 365 COPILOT |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Microsoft does not claim ownership of customer prompts or inputs. Customer data remains customer property under Microsoft's data governance framework.
“When you provide your Data or Your Content to Bing Places, you grant Microsoft a worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, save, modify, aggregate, promote, transmit, display, and distribute your Data and Your Content (including intellectual property rights in your Data…”
Broad, worldwide, royalty-free license over user inputs/content submitted to Bing Places, including sublicensing rights to third parties with no apparent scope limitation or termination right described here.
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.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Microsoft doesn't claim ownership of the output of the service. Outputs are treated as customer data.
“As part of building the Xbox Services community, you grant to Microsoft, its affiliates and sublicensees a free and worldwide right to use, modify, reproduce, distribute, broadcast, share and display Your Content or your name, gamertag, motto, or avatar that you posted for any Xb…”
Broad, royalty-free, worldwide license granted to Microsoft and its sublicensees to use, modify, reproduce, distribute, broadcast, share and display user-submitted content with no expiry stated.
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.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Microsoft does not use M365 Copilot customer content to train foundation models. The Microsoft Privacy Statement (March 2026) states for enterprise Copilot: 'Microsoft 365 Copilot...provides enterprise-grade data protection' and 'will use the content in your files only when you ask it to perform a specific action on that specific content.' General Microsoft AI statement covers manual review of automated method outputs for improving accuracy, but enterprise Copilot data is explicitly protected.
“As part of our efforts to improve and develop our products, we may use your data to develop and train our AI models. Learn more here .”
Microsoft explicitly reserves the right to use user data to train AI models. This appears twice in the document, suggesting it applies broadly across products and tiers.
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.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Microsoft 365 Copilot is available as an enterprise add-on. Commercial use of all outputs is permitted.
“The articles, text, photos, maps, videos, video players, and third-party material available on Bing and MSN, including through Microsoft bots, applications and programs, are for your noncommercial, personal use only. Other uses, including downloading, copying, or redistributing t…”
Bing and MSN content is restricted to noncommercial personal use. Using outputs/materials to build products or for commercial purposes requires explicit Microsoft authorization, which is not granted by default.
📂 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.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
HIGH⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Enterprise/commercial M365 Copilot provides strong data protection — content not used for training, enterprise-grade compliance. Consumer Microsoft products (Bing, Cortana, etc.) have broader licenses. Bing Places grants a 'worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, save, modify, aggregate, promote, transmit, display, and distribute your Data and Your Content...and sub-license any or all of the foregoing rights to third parties.'
“If you fail to remove excess content or obtain sufficient additional storage after receiving notice from Microsoft, we reserve the right to delete or disable access to Your Content.”
Microsoft may permanently delete Outlook.com user content upon storage quota breach without a defined grace period in this clause.
$
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.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
MED⚠ CAUTIONHIGH
Enterprise/commercial M365 Copilot provides strong data protection — content not used for training, enterprise-grade compliance. Consumer Microsoft products (Bing, Cortana, etc.) have broader licenses. Bing Places grants a 'worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, save, modify, aggregate, promote, transmit, display, and distribute your Data and Your Content...and sub-license any or all of the foregoing rights to third parties.'
“ f. Refund Policy. Unless otherwise provided by law or by a particular Service offer, all purchases are final and non-refundable. If you believe that Microsoft has charged you in error, you must contact us within 90 days of such charge. No refunds will be given for any charges mo…”