Having only launched to consumers towards the end of 2023, there’s a surprising amount of countries that Microsoft 365 Copilot is not available in. While access has been offered to those in the Americas, the United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, the EU is notably without access. For many, they will be encountering issues with Microsoft Copilot not showing up. Let’s go over what we know about which countries you can access Copilot from.
What countries is Microsoft Copilot available in?
According to a statement from Microsoft Copilot, it is “currently accessible in the US, the UK and select countries in Asia and South America.” This notably excludes much of the world, including Europe
What countries is Microsoft Copilot unavailable in?
Microsoft Copilot is unavailable to anyone residing in the EU, alongside other regions including Africa, Australia and more. However, this does not look to be permanent. It’s likely that Microsoft will continue to rollout Copilot globally, with certain exceptions to Europe and other regions with stringent data privacy protections.
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Myanmar
- Cabo Verde
- China
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Timor-Leste
- Iran
- Côte d’Ivoire
- North Korea
- Palestinian Authority
- Russia
- St Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha
- Syria
Microsoft 365 Copilot is allegedly designed to be compliant with various privacy, security, and compliance commitments, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the European Union (EU) Data Boundary. This means that Microsoft 365 Copilot adheres to strict data processing and residency commitments applicable to Microsoft 365 users. For EU users, additional safeguards are in place to comply with the EU Data Boundary, ensuring that EU traffic stays within this boundary.
The data accessed by Microsoft 365 Copilot through the Microsoft Graph is not used to train foundational large language models (LLMs), including those used by Microsoft 365 Copilot. This approach is in line with Microsoft’s commitment to privacy and data security. The service operates under the terms of the Early Access Program and, upon general availability, will operate under the Microsoft 365 Product Terms.
Microsoft 365 Copilot’s availability in the EU is likely influenced by these stringent compliance and regulatory requirements. As AI regulations evolve, it’s not known whether Microsoft will continue to adapt and respond to fulfill future regulatory requirements, ensuring that its AI offerings, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, meet the highest standards of data protection and privacy. There’s been running concerns that big tech companies could simply reject regulation and limit their products to areas without strict regulation instead.
For the most accurate and detailed information, it’s recommended to refer to Microsoft’s official documentation or contact Microsoft directly, especially for specific inquiries related to the EU.
How to access Microsoft Copilot if it’s unavailable in your country
If you’re trying to access Microsoft Copilot and it’s not yet available in your country, there’s a few workarounds you might be interested in trying. The only one we’ve been able to get working requires the Moment 4 update, so you’re going to have to be on Windows 11.
- Press Windows + R
- Input the following into the run command bar: microsoft-edge://?ux=copilot&tcp=1&source=taskbar
You’re going to have to do this everytime you want to try Copilot if you’re not in one of the selected regions.
When will Microsoft Copilot become available in other countries?
There’s no saying when the other countries are going to see Microsoft 365 Copilot roll out. The EU’s stringent privacy laws have been protecting their citizens for a while now, with the rollout of certain ChatGPT features in Europe having been affected. Alongside that, Generative Search enhanced by AI has seen various roadblocks from the EU.
A recent AI summit at London’s Bletchley Park has seen the artificial intelligence agenda under scrutiny, so it’s possible that Copilot had been mentioned there too.
We’re going to keep this page updated with the latest, while you might have thought your best bet regarding Microsoft Copilot availability around the world will be through Microsoft’s websites themselves, their site can be slightly confusing. For one, they’ve claimed that Microsoft 365 Copilot is generally available, though this isn’t necessarily the case as we’ve just seen.
