GitHub Copilot Will Train AI on Your Code by Default: How to Opt Out

A Major Shift in Developer Data Policy

On March 25, 2026, GitHub announced a significant change to its Copilot data usage policy: starting April 24, 2026, interaction data from Copilot Free, Pro, and Pro+ users will be used to train and improve AI models unless users explicitly opt out. The change, detailed in an updated Privacy Statement and Terms of Service, moves millions of developers worldwide into an opt-out framework rather than requiring explicit consent.

Mario Rodriguez, GitHub's VP of Product, framed the decision as essential for AI development: "We believe the future of AI-assisted development depends on real-world interaction data from developers like you."

What Data Is Covered

The expanded data collection covers a broad range of developer interactions with Copilot:

• Code inputs and outputs: Accepted or modified suggestions, code snippets sent to Copilot
• Context data: Code surrounding the cursor position, comments, documentation
• Structural data: File names, repository structure, navigation patterns
• Feedback signals: Thumbs up/down ratings on suggestions
• Interaction patterns: How developers engage with Copilot features over time

This represents a comprehensive picture of how developers write, review, and iterate on code with AI assistance.

Who Is Affected and Who Is Not

The policy change applies specifically to individual developers:

Business and Enterprise customers retain their existing data protections. GitHub has stated that data from these plans will not be used for model training, maintaining the privacy guarantees that enterprise customers require.

Private Repository Nuance

GitHub drew a specific distinction regarding private repositories: the company does not use private repository content "at rest" to train AI models. However, interaction data generated while working in a private repository may still be collected under the new policy. This means that while GitHub will not crawl or index private repository code, the snippets and context sent to Copilot during active coding sessions in private repos could be used for training.

This nuance is critical for developers working on proprietary or sensitive codebases. Even if the repository itself remains private, the code fragments exchanged with Copilot during development are subject to the new data policy.

How to Opt Out

Developers who want to prevent their interaction data from being used for AI training need to take action before April 24:

1. Navigate to GitHub Settings
2. Select the Privacy section
3. Toggle off "Allow GitHub to use my code for product improvements"

GitHub confirmed that users who previously opted out of data collection for product improvements will have their preferences retained. No action is needed if that setting was already disabled.

Community Response

The announcement has generated significant backlash in developer communities. Security researchers and open-source advocates have raised concerns about the opt-out approach, arguing that developers should be required to consent rather than being enrolled by default.

Help Net Security reported that the policy shift represents a broader trend in AI companies leveraging user-generated data to improve their models, following similar moves by other platforms. The timing is notable: GitHub made the announcement just 30 days before the policy takes effect, giving developers a limited window to review their settings.

Data Sharing Scope

GitHub confirmed that collected interaction data may be shared with Microsoft affiliates, its parent company, for AI model improvement. However, the data will not be shared with third-party AI providers. This means the training data feeds into Microsoft's broader AI ecosystem, which includes Azure OpenAI services and other Microsoft AI products.

Competitive Context

The policy change arrives as the AI-assisted coding market intensifies. Competitors like Cursor, Windsurf, and Amazon CodeWhisperer have adopted varying approaches to user data, with some marketing stronger privacy guarantees as a differentiator. GitHub's decision to expand data collection could push privacy-conscious developers toward alternatives that offer clearer data boundaries.

At the same time, the move reflects a practical reality: AI coding assistants improve with more training data, and real-world developer interactions provide higher-quality signal than synthetic or open-source-only datasets.

Outlook

The April 24 deadline creates urgency for developers to review their GitHub privacy settings. For individual developers, the key question is whether the convenience of Copilot outweighs concerns about contributing interaction data to AI training. For organizations using Business or Enterprise plans, the immediate impact is minimal, but the policy shift signals GitHub's broader direction on AI data usage.

The developer community's response over the next month will be an important indicator of how much friction opt-out data policies create in practice versus in principle.

Conclusion

GitHub's Copilot data policy change is a significant shift that affects millions of individual developers worldwide. While Business and Enterprise users are protected, Free, Pro, and Pro+ users must actively opt out before April 24 to prevent their coding interactions from being used for AI model training. The move highlights the ongoing tension between AI improvement and developer privacy, a debate that will only intensify as AI coding tools become more central to software development workflows.