The United States Congress has officially prohibited the use of Microsoft’s AI tool Copilot by staff members, following concerns over potential data security risks. The decision was made by the House of Representatives, with the Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor stating that the Copilot application poses a threat of leaking House data to unauthorized cloud services, as reported by Axios.
In response to the ban, a Microsoft spokesperson mentioned that they are working on developing AI tools, including Copilot, that meet the security requirements of the federal government and are scheduled for release later this year. However, there has been no immediate comment from the U.S. House’s chief administrative office regarding the ban.
Lawmakers have been examining the risks associated with the adoption of artificial intelligence by federal agencies, focusing on protecting individual privacy and ensuring fair treatment. Last year, bipartisan legislation was introduced to prevent the use of AI technology in creating misleading content depicting candidates in political advertisements during federal elections.
