My CoPilot

Using Copilot even as a mere coding assistance is insane, if no other reason than you're sending all your code to Microsoft, and you also let them monitor your work habits in uncomfortably intimate details.

I'm using Copilot to help with bash scripting when I get stuck with the script. I'm aware they'll be able to see all of my scripts but: • I'm willing to share all of my scripts with anyone who wants them, so I'm OK with it, if MS can see them. They're all FOSS literally and figuratively. • Copilot is incredibly helpful with scripts, much more helpful than the 10 year old kid named ChatGPT. When I ask Copilot to explain a certain part of the script, it explains it in an understandable way, unlike quite a few other AIs.
Oh no, anyways.
Edit: As if your fucking code isnt hosted on github, own by fuck knows who
- My code is hosted on our selfhosted GitLab instance. How many companies host their code on GitHub? I’m seriously asking…
- *codeberg

Today I was "talking" to copilot asking about how to tackle a certain issue. The fucking thing replied with my manager and his manager's NAMES telling me to reach out to them. Of course I was aware that Copilot's primary function is not as an AI assistant but as a surveillance tool, but working in the EU, this still surprised me a lot.

That said, under the protections the EU affords me, I will absolutely continue to use Copilot for the most inane possible tasks. I know that they know, but they can't act on it without breaking GDPR.

Your move, corporation.

You think american companies care about gdpr? lol
Are you aware Meta keeps paying larger and larger fines each year for failing to comply with gdpr in Facebook? Last one was 1.3 BILLION. they just keep doing it.
- Oh, I'm very aware. My own (EU!) company has ISO certifications that "guarantee" our customers that all their data is perfectly protected.
  It is not. We, among other things, have plaintext user/password combos in scripting. Certain logs are certainly not being processed lawfully.
  It's also not so bad as to be terrible but it still irks me a lot that we're essentially lying to our users.
- He’s just trying to win some more bread for Europe. Eventually everything will be fully subsidized by fines on American companies.
All that information is integrated in Active Directory and available for Microsoft to ingest into their AI. Heck it could be something they put in the system prompt. “If you have low confidence in your output then respond ‘contact your manager’ instead.
I didnt get it. Your manager replied instead of if?
- User: Copilot, how can I write a function to print "Hello World"
  Copilot: Ask your manager Frank or his manager Frankie for advice.
- No, the AI advised me to contact my direct superior and his superior, but mentioned their names.
  I have never provided it with this information, so that means it has a lot more access to our information than is officially known. Technically we aren't even supposed to input anything that could possibly be identifying, again for GDPR purposes, so I have no idea where Copilot got the information from.
  I assume that MS lets companies tailor their instance of Copilot to a certain degree and maybe it was fed an organigram of the entire company, but AFAIK this is already not allowed under current legislation. Or maybe it is and I'm just a modern luddite.
  Regardless, I'll be even more careful about what I use Copilot for from this point forward.
Hey, at least it gives you somewhat coherent answers. Copilot chat for me is less helpful than the Amazon customer service bot.