The US Congress has implemented a ban on the use of Microsoft’s AI chatbot, Copilot, across all government-issued Windows devices due to concerns regarding potential data leaks.
Axios reported that guidance issued to congressional offices by House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor revealed the prohibition.
The decision to ban Copilot stems from the Office of Cybersecurity’s assessment, which identified Copilot as a risk to users, posing a threat of leaking House data to unauthorized cloud services.
The directive instructs the removal and prohibition of Copilot from all House Windows devices.
It’s important to note that congressional staff members can still utilize Copilot on their personal phones and laptops.
This move echoes a similar action taken by Congress a year ago when it banned its staff from using ChatGPT. However, the ban targeted the free version of ChatGPT specifically on House devices, while access to the paid version, ChatGPT Plus, remained permissible due to its enhanced privacy settings.
In response to the Copilot ban, Microsoft has stated that it is developing a suite of tools tailored for government use, with the aim of addressing Congress’s concerns. The tech giant plans to roll out these tools during the upcoming summer.
