Why this comes up with Copilot
Oversharing isn't new. A salary spreadsheet in a site open to everyone was already exposed. Copilot just makes it easier to stumble on. An employee asks a reasonable question, and the answer draws on a document they never knew they could open.
That's why Microsoft's own Copilot deployment guidance emphasizes reviewing permissions and data governance first.
Where oversharing usually hides
- Sharing links set to "anyone" or "people in your organization"
- Company-wide sites and Teams that were created for convenience
- Broken permission inheritance, where one folder was shared differently and forgotten
- Sites with no current owner, often left behind by former employees
- Old project, HR, finance or client folders that were never archived
A practical pre-rollout checklist
- Decide what's sensitive. HR, payroll, client tax and legal files, financials and leadership documents.
- Find where it lives and who can reach it. Microsoft provides reporting tools for this. What's available depends on your licenses, so ask your IT provider what you can use.
- Fix the worst exposures first. Remove broad links, restrict company-wide access to sensitive sites and assign owners.
- Consider sensitivity labels for the most confidential content.
- Pilot with a small group before a wide rollout, and ask them to report anything surprising Copilot shows them.
- Set usage rules in your AI acceptable-use policy.
- Review again periodically, because sharing drifts over time.
The honest tradeoff
Cleaning up permissions takes time, and it can briefly frustrate people who lose access they were using. You don't need perfection before starting. A sensible approach is to protect the most sensitive content first, pilot with a small group and improve as you go. Waiting until everything is perfect usually means never starting. Starting with no review at all means risking an awkward or harmful discovery.
FAQ
Does Copilot send our data to train public AI models?
Microsoft states that Microsoft 365 Copilot doesn't use your organization's content to train its foundation models. Read Microsoft's current documentation for your plan, and see ChatGPT or Copilot: which fits your business?
The bigger risk is often employees using personal, free AI accounts, where training on your chats can be the default. Our step-by-step guide shows how to turn off AI training on your data in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grok and other major AI tools.
Can we exclude certain sites from Copilot?
Microsoft offers controls to restrict content from Copilot, depending on licensing. Your IT provider can confirm what's available on your plan.
Is Copilot worth it for a small firm?
That depends on the work. See how to measure AI ROI.
Verification sources
- Microsoft Learn, "Configure a secure and governed foundation for Microsoft Copilot"
- Microsoft Learn, "Get ready for Microsoft Copilot with SharePoint Advanced Management"
Still have a question?
Ask Little Sprout for general information. To plan a Copilot rollout that starts with the right permissions, schedule a free 15-minute discovery call.