Microsoft: Why AI Can't Replace Human Expertise in the Workforce

Microsoft has updated its terms of service, effective at the end of September, emphasizing that its Copilot AI services should not replace professional human advice. AI-driven agents are increasingly prevalent across various industries, serving roles as chatbots in customer service, health and wellness applications, and even providing legal information. Nevertheless, Microsoft reiterates to its users that responses from its chatbots should not be viewed as definitive guidance. The updated Service Agreement clearly states: “AI services are not designed, intended, or to be used as substitutes for professional advice.”

The company highlights its health bots as a specific example, clarifying that these bots “are not designed or intended as substitutes for professional medical advice or for diagnosing, curing, mitigating, preventing, or treating diseases or other conditions.” Furthermore, the terms assert: “Microsoft is not responsible for any decisions you make based on information received from health bots.”

Additionally, the revised Service Agreement outlines further restrictions on AI usage. For instance, users are prohibited from extracting data using the AI services. The agreement specifies: “Unless explicitly permitted, you may not use web scraping, web harvesting, or web data extraction methods to extract data from the AI services.” Microsoft also prohibits reverse engineering attempts aimed at uncovering the model’s weights or using its data “to create, train, or improve (directly or indirectly) any other AI service.” The terms clearly state: “You may not use the AI services to discover any underlying components of the models, algorithms, and systems.” This includes efforts to determine and remove model weights or extract portions of the AI services from devices.

Microsoft has consistently expressed concerns regarding the potential misuse of generative AI. With these updated terms of service, the company seeks to establish protective legal measures as its AI products continue to grow in popularity.