Microsoft says Copilot is for entertainment purposes only, not serious use — firm pushing AI hard to consumers and businesses tells users not to rely on it for important advice

Tomshardware ^ | 04 03 2026 | Jowi Morales

[yesthatjallen]

Microsoft used to push its AI services towards its user base, especially with the launch of the Copilot+ PC, but it seems that even the company itself does not trust its creation. According to the Microsoft Copilot Terms of Use, which was updated in October last year, the AI large language model (LLM) is designed for entertainment use only, and users should not use it for important advice. While this may be a boilerplate disclaimer, it’s quite ironic given how hard the company wants people to use Copilot for business uses and has integrated it into Windows 11.

“Copilot is for entertainment purposes only. It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended,” the document said. “Don’t rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk.” This isn’t limited to Copilot, too. Other AI LLMs have similar disclaimers. For example, xAI says “Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving and is probabilistic in nature; therefore, it may sometimes: a) result in Output that contains “hallucinations,” b) be offensive, c) not accurately reflect real people, places or facts, or d) be objectionable, inappropriate, or otherwise not suitable for your intended purpose.”

SNIP

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: ai; aitruth; copilot; microsoft

[rdcbn1]

Microsoft copilot is absolutely worthless

[clee1]

I quickly turned that ish off.

[NoLibZone]

Because: lawyers.

[Judge Bean]

It has actually been useful for walking me through setting up complex Excel spreadsheets and helping to interface with Google Applications, but I prefer Gemini or Grok for most AI Functions. Gemini has been very useful for my pure research functions (like having an assistant to do the manual referencing etc.) But I don’t trust it for pure advice. And I always check the references.

[omni-scientist]

It is not completely useless. I have used it to generate code in OpenSCAD for geometric models. That being said, it can and does make mistakes. I had to suffer with it for it’s belief that trig functions required arguments in radians, when in fact it was in degrees. Once I quoted the user manual, it finally agreed, but made no apology.

[Berosus]

I just bought a laptop with Windows 11 on it. Guess I won’t be using Copilot after all.

[yesthatjallen]

"It has actually been useful for walking me through setting up complex Excel spreadsheets and helping to interface with Google Applications"

I had a similar experience.

I wanted to try copilot so I gave it the task of writing a piece of music in the style of Bach's Aria from the Goldberg Variations.

It said, "I can't do that but I can teach you how".

It guided me in the process of downloading programs and linking to websites. Step by detailed step. When I said I was going to give up, it encouraged me to keep going and I did until I had what I wanted.

Granted copilot isn't good at writing music like other AI programs but it did teach me how to do it.

I'm not going to trust AI with my life but it's a useful tool.

[newfreep]

ChatGBT is horribly biased to leftism.
GROK is much better.
I’ve been using Perplexity and found it to be the best so far - more accurate, insightful & neutral...”just the facts, maam”

[Judge Bean]

That is the best way to look at. Like Microsoft’s Google Assistant. Useful, but doesn’t replace judgement. It allows you to gather important information and organize it, but you have to draw your own conclusions. I know when I am researching, then it does the manual collection of data that would take me hours to do, so it is useful in that way.

[zeestephen]

About four months ago, I asked Co-Pilot to answer several questions about the two Boeing 737 MAX planes that crashed in Muslim countries, with Muslim pilots, in 2018 and 2019.

I was completely amazed at the engineering detail and completely amazed at the flawless time line and legal discussion.

Free Republic is Ground Zero for Microsoft product Haters.

For the average computer user, Microsoft has been churning out reliable software, at a reasonable price, for the last 30 years.

[nwrep]

I think that statement diminishes what it can do. It is boilerplate legalese.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Should have told me that before repeatedly giving me code that didn’t work for 2 hours, each time saying it would work this time.

[Buttons12]

Mmm-hmm, so very entertaining! /s

[DataJunkie]

I, for one, am not against AI, technology is great...when it works, LOL. AI is a good tool. I’ve used ChapGPT once when it first came out to get some Linux commands for work, my daughter uses it when composing instructional emails, and the company she works for uses Gemini. So, it is useful. What isn’t useful, first, personalizing it to the point of no longer being a tool such as when individuals commit suicide or other nefarious acts because their AI told them so, that’s just sad. And second, when a company pays a technical consultant big bucks to fix network issues (as an example) and the response is ‘Let’s ask Grok’ or ‘...let’s see what AI has to say’, then to me that means the consultant really isn’t worth those big bucks, they’d be lost without the AI tool. I’m not saying they shouldn’t use it, it’s just that when the conversation with the consultant starts out with them asking AI the questions we’re asking them, that doesn’t promote confidence in that consultant. As for CoPilot, it’s just plain intrusive and getting more difficult to constantly remove every couple of weeks with certain updates. CoPilot should be an optional feature, not a forced one. I checked it out once, it was NOT helpful. Afterwards, it embedded itself into everything such as my spreadsheets to the point of obscuring the actual data with unrelated useless information and that’s when I learned how to shut it off.

[Biblebelter]

Thanks for the info, I’ll give Perplexity a try.

[Zathras]

My work paid for laptop bricked itself during an automated software update.
MS is in real trouble on W11

[fireman15]

If you are curious what a commercial service such as Suno will create from the prompt “music in the style of Bach's Aria from the Goldberg Variations”.
Here is an example, where no learning anything is necessary, just copy the above prompt in the create box and check the instrumental option:

https://teddycat.fun/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Goldberg-Daydream.mp3

Suno created two tracks the one above was the shorter version, the second was 8 minutes long. Partially because of lawsuits they had a half price special a couple months ago, $48 for a year for their "pro plan.

I experiment with all sorts of versions of AI models and services for fun. I run many types of AI models locally, and also in rented servers that would cost too much for me to purchase. But many of the commercial services such as Suno would be pretty hard to duplicate.

I don't use co-pilot much. It seems amazing that a service that so much money was invested in... (not to mention the advertising hype) seems as limited as it is, and frustrating as well.

[ealgeone]