What data leaves your spreadsheet when you use AI

Where does my sheet go when I ask AI a question?

Your prompt, and the data the tool needs to answer it, go to the maker's AI service. The answer comes back into the side panel. That's how the feature works, so some data does leave the file.¹

Where exactly it goes depends on the plan, the account type and your admin's settings. Business and personal accounts can be treated differently. Read the maker's page for your own account.

Is my data used to train the AI?

Each maker gives its own statement, and each has conditions. Check the privacy notice for your own plan.

Microsoft's statement is about Microsoft Copilot: prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren't used to train foundation LLMs.¹ An LLM is a large language model, the kind of system behind these tools.

Google's statement is given for users with Google AI plans. It says Gemini in Sheets uses your content in Workspace to give more useful responses, and doesn't use your content to train or improve Gemini or other generative AI models.²

Google adds two conditions. Use of Gemini in Sheets by users enrolled in the Google Workspace Experiments program is covered by a separate privacy notice.² And a Workspace user with a personal account who chooses to share data with Gemini Apps or Search may find that data used for model training and improvement.² So the plan and account you're signed in with matter.

Who can see what the AI shows?

Microsoft says Copilot only surfaces organisational data to which individual users have at least view permissions.¹ So who can open a file matters, and it's worth checking your sharing settings.

Google shows a warning in the side panel on shared or external sheets: content added by Gemini may be visible to users outside your domain.³ A domain is your organisation's own set of accounts.

Does it ever go to the web?

It can. Microsoft says that when Copilot uses web search, it generates a search query that it sends to the Bing Search service.¹ A web lookup is a different path from your workbook, so don't put anything in a prompt that you wouldn't type into a search box.

Are my chats saved?

Google says your conversations with Gemini in Sheets are not saved to Gemini Activity, and that deleting the conversation history doesn't delete anything already saved to Gemini Activity.³ For Excel, ask your admin how prompts are stored.

What should stay out of a prompt?

Keep these out unless your business's own policy says otherwise:

• Passwords, API keys and security codes.
• Card numbers and bank details.
• Customer records: names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, health or account details.
• Staff records and pay details.
• Anything covered by a contract that says it can't be shared.

Don't paste secrets into a prompt. Use column names, a few made-up example rows, or a cut-down copy with identifying columns removed.

Privacy law differs by country, and some rules apply only in one place. If you hold customer data, check with the official privacy regulator for your country. If your business has an AI policy, follow it first.

Does a "no training" promise make anything safe to paste?

No. Not training on your data is one promise. It doesn't cover who in your company can see a result, or what's in a shared file. Google also warns that suggestions can be inaccurate, so the answer still needs checking.³