Ethical Stack.

Microsoft Copilot

Consumer assistant combining conversation and web-grounded answers with links to sources.

Score calculation

(7 + 5 + 2 + 7 + 3) ÷ 5 = 4.8

Boycott target: overall capped at 2/10. Overall score: 2.0/10.

5 of six dimensions rated. Unrated dimensions are excluded from the average.

Full scoring method ↗
Setup details

Microsoft Copilot: cloud access. Free consumer access; paid Microsoft 365/Copilot options vary. Ratings describe the stated product, company or configuration in each finding.

What fits your needs

Consumer Microsoft Copilot app and web; Microsoft 365 app and organizational Copilot have distinct data terms.

Tasks

Web-grounded chat, file questions and Microsoft account integrations can suit users already working in Microsoft services.

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Access and billing

Consumer Copilot has free access; paid Microsoft 365 plans and features vary by account and region.

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Tradeoffs to expect

Route

The consumer app is cloud-based; model and feature routing can vary. Microsoft 365 in-app and organizational accounts have separate data boundaries.

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Privacy controls

The current Copilot app was updated in August 2026; older privacy FAQ training text explicitly applies only to the older app, so confirm which version/account applies.

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How to switch

Get started

Use copilot.microsoft.com or the official app; sign in with the account you intend to use and check its privacy settings and Microsoft 365 plan separately.

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Practical questions

Age and sensitive use

Copilot terms require users to be at least 13 or the higher local legal age; users under 18 may have features limited. The Code of Conduct restricts non-consensual imagery, privacy violations and deception.

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Feedback and files

Microsoft documents response flag/Report controls for its older Copilot app and states uploaded files can be retained up to 18 months. The FAQ explicitly excludes the updated app, so confirm controls for the current surface.

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Corrections and reporting

The older consumer app FAQ provides Give feedback in Settings, a response flag on web/mobile and Report from the app menu. Its instructions do not apply to the updated app; current app route remains unclear in the reviewed docs.

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Energy practices

7/10↑

Microsoft reports annual company-wide renewable matching, regional data-center PUE/WUE, and FY25 improvement in global WUE. Copilot consumer modes offer quick and deeper response choices, but no Copilot-request environmental footprint or serving region is published.

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The company’s dated regional PUE/WUE and reported decrease in global WUE support D2 and C3 at Microsoft data-center scope. The FY25 annual renewable match supports E1 only. Copilot consumer Quick response, Think Deeper, Smart, and Study modes provide user-facing workload choices, but no product-level environmental results tie them to resource savings. Company evidence must not be mistaken for the route of a specific Copilot response.

1 + 2 reporting + 1 electricity + 3 controls = 7/10. This grade covers documented practices and transparency; it does not measure the energy or emissions of a request.

Copilot request/model/region/facility allocation; actual energy, emissions, water and response-mode use; hourly electricity source at serving locations; hardware and construction footprint.

Reporting2/3
Microsoft publishes dated global/regional PUE and WUE plus company emissions; the Copilot consumer app has no request-level energy/carbon/water allocation.
Electricity sourcing1/3
Microsoft reports annual global electricity matching with renewable energy for FY25. This is an annual company-wide match, not hourly matching or Copilot-route sourcing.
Resource controls3/3
Microsoft reports FY25 global data-center WUE improved from 0.30 to 0.27 L/kWh and documents cooling-efficiency controls. This is a measured physical resource-intensity reduction plus controls at company facilities, not a Copilot-specific saving.

Water disclosure

Microsoft reports average data-center water-use effectiveness of 0.27 liters per kWh in 2025 and a 25% reduction in fleet water-use intensity from its 2020 baseline. These fleet figures do not identify Copilot or an Azure model request's water use.

Microsoft-reported owned data-center fleet average and company-wide water-intensity progress for 2025. No Copilot, Azure AI Foundry, model, or request-level allocation is given.

Training data

—Depends on the model↑

Microsoft’s own documentation describes Copilot as drawing on web and personal/work data, and notes model-training information may differ between older and updated app versions. The reviewed product evidence does not fix one underlying model training data.

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This profile mixes model routes and grounded sources, and the cited training FAQ itself distinguishes old and new Copilot versions. A single score would imply a stable training data that the profile doesn’t show.

Current default model/version for this user-facing Copilot app and its model-specific source/rights disclosures need to be fixed.

Your data & privacy

5/10↑

Consumer conversation activity can be used for model training for eligible signed-in users, with a setting to opt out and exceptions by account category and location.

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Microsoft discloses an opt-out and excluded categories, but the consumer default and scope depend on sign-in, country and product surface.

Openness

2/10↑

Microsoft Copilot offers a hosted service; select Microsoft 365 features can route work to named OpenAI or Anthropic models, while other surfaces choose automatically. This does not expose those providers’ model weights or allow self-hosting Copilot.

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Model choice on particular Microsoft 365 surfaces is useful flexibility, but the consumer service and routing stack remain hosted and the documented choices are not downloadable through Copilot.

Worker protections

7/10↑

Microsoft has enforceable supplier standards, confidential grievance routes and a substantial independent worker-survey/remediation program; evidence centers on hardware and selected supply-chain workers, not specifically AI annotators or GitHub.

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Microsoft’s FY2025 Human Rights Transparency Report describes risk-based supplier audits and monitoring plus an anonymous mobile survey run with third-party LRQA: 18,305 of 54,938 supplier workers across 40 suppliers responded, and 555 improvement actions were completed in FY25. The current supplier code is required of suppliers and their employees, agents and subcontractors; Microsoft publishes multilingual confidential complaint channels and says substantiated violations receive remedial measures. This is concrete system implementation, but the survey cohort is supplier/device supply chain evidence, not proof of the working conditions of Copilot, GitHub or AI-training data contractors.

1 + 2 pay & conditions + 2 worker voice & remedy + 2 evidence & follow-through = 7/10. This grades documented worker safeguards, not a measured rate of mistreatment.

No public breakdown identifies AI annotation, moderation, evaluation or GitHub contractor coverage; Microsoft’s supply-chain data is mainly electronics/devices and broader suppliers and is company-reported, with no independent worker outcome audit shown.

Pay & conditions2/3
The Supplier Code applies to suppliers/subcontractors and FY2025 monitoring requires risk controls and corrective processes, but reported worker outcomes mainly concern selected supply-chain suppliers, not AI data workers.
Worker voice & remedy2/3
Microsoft provides confidential anonymous grievance channels and the third-party LRQA survey gathered feedback from over 18,000 supplier workers; the public evidence is limited to selected supply-chain workers.
Evidence & follow-through2/3
The FY2025 report describes third-party assessments/audits, action plans and 555 completed improvement actions; these are reported by Microsoft, with no independent verification of the stated worker outcomes in this review.
Workers rubric ↗

Military ties

3/10Broad defense ties↑

Microsoft provides Azure, AI, and classified cloud services to defense and intelligence customers through JWCC and other programs. The company has longstanding military relationships, while its AI conduct rules set broad harm restrictions without a comprehensive public ban on military or weapons use.

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Microsoft's JWCC materials state that DoD mission owners can procure Azure AI, machine learning, and tactical-edge capabilities across Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret settings; Microsoft's defense pages describe AI agents supporting planning and execution. This is broad defense enablement, capped at 3/10. The AI Services Code of Conduct prohibits harmful use and requires oversight for consequential decisions, but it does not create a categorical military-use ban or public independent military audit.

1 + 0 use restrictions + 1 enforcement & oversight + 1 relationship disclosure = 3/10. Known defense ties lower this rating; safeguards can improve it within the relationship’s cap.

The reviewed public sources don’t confirm specific combat, targeting, or intelligence deployments of Microsoft AI, full contract restrictions, or independent use-specific review and outcomes. GitHub military use is not established.

Use restrictions0/4
The Code of Conduct prohibits broad harmful use and CBRN weapons assistance, but no specific blanket restriction on conventional military, weapons, or harmful surveillance use was established.
Enforcement & oversight1/3
The Code of Conduct mandates controls and human oversight for consequential decisions and gives Microsoft contractual policy enforcement mechanisms; no published independent military deployment audit is established.
Relationship disclosure1/2
Microsoft names defense customers, JWCC, classification levels, and AI capabilities, but public materials do not detail task orders, restrictions, or military-use outcomes.

Microsoft offers AI and cloud services across DoD classification levels and tactical-edge contexts, without public evidence in this review of a specific weapon-targeting deployment. The relationship limits this grade to 3/10.

Military rubric ↗

BDS targets

Boycott target↑

Boycott target in the checked BNC campaign list.

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The BNC campaign guide names Microsoft, the company behind Copilot, as a priority consumer boycott target.

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