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Sometimes. GitHub’s current policy treats Copilot Free, Pro, Pro+, and Max differently from Copilot Business and Enterprise. Starting April 24, 2026, GitHub may use eligible individual subscribers’ Copilot interactions—including inputs, outputs, code snippets, and associated context—to train and improve AI models, unless the subscriber disables the training-use setting. GitHub says it does not use Copilot Business or Enterprise customer data to train AI models under its Data Protection Agreement (DPA). Check your plan before relying on older advice that all Copilot usage is excluded from training.
What GitHub Copilot’s current training policy says
The controlling distinction is individual subscription versus an organization-managed Business or Enterprise seat. GitHub’s individual-subscriber documentation records a policy change effective April 24, 2026. On Copilot Free, Pro, Pro+, and Max, GitHub may use interactions with GitHub features and services—including prompts or other inputs, generated outputs, code snippets, and associated context—to train and improve AI models. Eligible individual users can turn that use off in Copilot settings.
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GitHub states separately that it does not use Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise customer data to train AI models, citing protections in its DPA. That statement applies to customer data covered by those organization plans; it does not turn every other Copilot privacy feature into a training switch. The applicable commercial terms can also depend on whether the organization bought Copilot directly from GitHub or through Microsoft.
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GitHub’s exact wording for individual plans is: “Starting on April 24, 2026, if you have a Copilot Free, Copilot Pro, Copilot Pro+, or Copilot Max plan, GitHub may use your interactions with GitHub features and services—including inputs, outputs, code snippets, and associated context—to train and improve AI models.” The same documentation says: “GitHub does not use Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise customer data to train AI models.” Read the full policy at Managing GitHub Copilot policies as an individual subscriber.
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First, identify which Copilot plan governs your account
Your available controls and the party responsible for them depend on the license attached to the account or seat.
| Plan or seat | Training-use position in GitHub’s current documentation | Who controls relevant settings |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Free | Interactions may be used to train and improve AI models from April 24, 2026; an individual training opt-out is available. | The individual subscriber can change the training-use setting. |
| Copilot Pro | Interactions may be used for training and improvement unless the subscriber opts out. | The individual subscriber. |
| Copilot Pro+ | Interactions may be used for training and improvement unless the subscriber opts out. | The individual subscriber. |
| Copilot Max | Interactions may be used for training and improvement unless the subscriber opts out. | The individual subscriber. |
| Copilot Business | GitHub says customer data is not used to train AI models under the described DPA protections. | Organization and enterprise administrators govern organization policies; the individual generally does not receive the individual training toggle. |
| Copilot Enterprise | GitHub says customer data is not used to train AI models under the described DPA protections. | Organization and enterprise administrators. |
If an account has an organization-managed Business or Enterprise license, the individual-subscriber training control may not appear. That absence is expected rather than evidence that a setting failed to load. Ask the organization’s GitHub administrator which seat and terms apply.
How to opt out of training on an individual plan
For Copilot Free, Pro, Pro+, and Max, GitHub provides a direct account setting. Change it before sending material you do not want included in the permitted training-use category.
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- Open the profile menu in the upper-right corner.
- Select Copilot settings.
- Find Allow GitHub to use my data for AI model training.
- Set the control to Disabled.
- Reload the settings page and confirm that the disabled state remains visible before continuing to use Copilot.
GitHub identifies this control as an individual-plan setting. If you cannot find it, verify whether your Copilot access is supplied through a Business or Enterprise seat. Those plans are covered by the organization policy described above and do not show the same personal toggle. The account-policy documentation is maintained at GitHub Docs.
This switch addresses training use. It does not automatically block every way Copilot can process context while answering a request, prevent public-code matches, or stop Copilot Chat from using a web search. Treat those as separate controls.
Training opt-out, public-code matching, and context use are different
Copilot privacy choices are often conflated because they all appear in account or organization settings. They answer different questions:
| Control | What it changes | Who can change it | What it does not promise |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI-model training setting | Stops GitHub from using eligible individual-plan interactions in the training and improvement activity covered by the setting. | Individual subscriber on Free, Pro, Pro+, or Max. | It is not a public-code filter, content-exclusion rule, or web-search switch. |
| Public-code matching | Allows or blocks suggestions that match public code on GitHub. | Individual user, unless an organization-managed Enterprise seat inherits an organizational policy. | Blocking a match does not prevent Copilot from using your interaction for model training. |
| Content exclusion | Restricts selected files from informing inline suggestions in other files or Copilot responses in supported Business and Enterprise scenarios. | Repository administrators, organization owners, and enterprise owners, according to their scope. | It is not an absolute isolation boundary and does not cover every client, mode, filesystem, or derived semantic signal. |
| Bing access for Copilot Chat | Permits Copilot Chat to search the internet through Bing when answering a question. | The account holder can enable or disable the account setting. | It controls web searching, not AI-model training. |
Public-code matching: what the block setting actually does
Individual Copilot settings let you allow or block suggestions that match public code. In most Copilot products, Block mode checks a generated suggestion and approximately 150 surrounding characters against public code on GitHub. When the system finds a match or near-match, it suppresses the suggestion instead of showing it.
If you allow matching suggestions, Copilot can show match details and links to the repositories containing the relevant public code. This gives you information for attribution and license review, but it is a different decision from whether GitHub may use your own interaction to improve models.
An Enterprise seat assigned by an organization can inherit the organization’s public-code policy. In that situation, the individual cannot override the setting independently. Confirm the effective policy with the organization owner or enterprise administrator. GitHub documents the matching behavior and its approximately 150-character comparison context in its individual-subscriber policy guide.
Business and Enterprise content exclusion
Organizations using Copilot Business or Enterprise can configure content exclusion for selected files. An exclusion is intended to keep those files from informing inline suggestions in other files or Copilot responses. Excluded files themselves do not receive inline suggestions and are not reviewed in Copilot code review. Repository administrators, organization owners, and enterprise owners can configure exclusions at the scope they administer.
How an administrator should use exclusions
- Identify repositories, paths, or files containing secrets, regulated data, proprietary algorithms, or other material that should not influence supported Copilot features.
- Have the repository, organization, or enterprise administrator configure the exclusion at the narrowest scope that covers those files.
- Document which repositories and paths are covered and communicate the rule to developers who work across multiple repositories.
- Check the supported client and mode before treating the exclusion as effective for a particular workflow.
- Review the exclusion when repositories move, are mirrored, or begin using new Copilot features.
Important limits of content exclusion
- An IDE may still supply indirect semantic information from an excluded file, such as type information, symbol definitions, or build configuration. The exclusion therefore reduces direct file use; it is not a guarantee that no derived signal can reach Copilot.
- Current exclusions do not apply to symbolic links.
- They do not apply to repositories on remote filesystems.
- Edit and Agent modes in Visual Studio Code and other editors are currently unsupported by the exclusion feature.
Because support varies by feature and editor, administrators should read the current capability details in GitHub’s content-exclusion documentation before promising that a path is fully isolated.
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The GitHub account setting for Copilot access to Bing is disabled by default. Enabling it allows Copilot Chat to search the internet for information related to a question. This can improve answers that depend on current public information, but it changes the data path for that chat request: Copilot can use Bing search as part of generating the response.
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Turning Bing access on or off does not change the individual-plan training-use setting, public-code matching behavior, or Business and Enterprise content-exclusion rules. Decide on web-search access according to your organization’s policy for sending questions to an external search service, then manage the training and code controls separately. The setting and its default are described in GitHub’s account-policy documentation.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What companies should verify before approving Copilot
A company should not rely only on a developer’s personal settings. Establish which legal terms and administrative policies govern the organization’s purchase and deployment.
Confirm the purchase route and governing terms
GitHub’s rollout guidance says a direct GitHub purchase uses GitHub Generative AI Services Terms. A purchase through Microsoft is governed by Microsoft’s Product Terms, including Microsoft Generative AI Service terms and terms specific to GitHub Offerings. The contracting route can therefore affect the terms your legal and security teams must review.
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- Verify the seat type and confirm that Business or Enterprise customer data receives the no-training treatment described by GitHub.
- Set an organization-wide public-code matching policy instead of leaving every Enterprise user to make an independent choice.
- Define repositories and paths that require content exclusion, then record the unsupported modes and locations in the internal policy.
- Decide whether Copilot Chat may use Bing and whether that decision differs by team or data classification.
- Use available feature and model policies, audit logs, and administrative documentation to monitor adoption and investigate exceptions.
GitHub’s approval resources, including the question “How does Copilot use my company’s data?”, are available at Resources for getting approval of GitHub Copilot.
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A practical decision framework
If you use an individual plan
- Open Copilot settings and disable Allow GitHub to use my data for AI model training if you do not want eligible interactions used for training and improvement.
- Choose whether public-code matching should be blocked; remember that this only suppresses matching suggestions.
- Leave Bing access disabled unless you specifically want Copilot Chat to search the web.
- Do not paste secrets, credentials, private keys, or regulated personal data merely because a training opt-out is enabled; the opt-out does not replace normal secure-development controls.
If your organization supplies the seat
- Ask whether the seat is Business or Enterprise and which purchase terms apply.
- Obtain the organization’s public-code matching policy rather than assuming you can change it personally.
- Ask administrators which repositories and modes are covered by content exclusion and whether any work occurs through unsupported remote filesystems, symbolic links, Edit mode, or Agent mode.
- Use the organization’s approved process for sensitive prompts and code, even though GitHub says Business and Enterprise customer data is not used to train AI models.
If you administer a rollout
- Publish the effective plan, purchase route, and data-governance terms in the internal approval record.
- Configure exclusions before enabling Copilot for repositories with especially sensitive source.
- Test policy coverage in every supported editor and workflow your developers use, while documenting that unsupported modes and indirect semantic signals remain limitations.
- Provide a contact for developers who see a missing setting or an unexpected inherited policy.
Common mistakes and how to correct them
“Copilot never trains on prompts or suggestions.”
That statement is outdated for eligible individual plans after April 24, 2026. Replace it with the plan-specific rule and show users where to disable the training-use setting.
“Blocking public-code matches opts me out of training.”
It does not. Public-code blocking suppresses suggestions that match public code; training use is controlled separately on eligible individual plans.
“Content exclusion means the file can never influence Copilot.”
GitHub documents indirect semantic signals and unsupported symlinks, remote filesystems, and Edit and Agent modes. Describe exclusion as a supported-feature restriction, not a perfect isolation boundary.
“The Bing switch is a training control.”
Bing access controls whether Copilot Chat can search the web. It has no stated effect on model-training eligibility.
“Every organization has identical terms.”
Check whether the purchase was direct from GitHub or through Microsoft. The applicable terms and the organization’s configured policies should be recorded before approval.
Bottom line for developers and security teams
Start with the plan. On Copilot Free, Pro, Pro+, and Max, GitHub’s policy effective April 24, 2026 allows interaction data to be used for model training and improvement, but the subscriber can disable that use in Copilot settings. GitHub says Business and Enterprise customer data is not used to train AI models under its DPA protections. Public-code matching, content exclusion, and Bing web search address different data or behavior questions, have different owners, and carry different limitations. A defensible Copilot policy documents all four separately instead of treating one switch as complete privacy control.
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