Sustainable Substitutes for Copilot

A generative AI tool integrated into almost all Microsoft products.

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Reasons to avoid Copilot

Avoid Copilot due to severe privacy concerns. Copilot is vulnerable to propaganda and fake news and Microsoft is leveraging its monopolistic market position to force its product onto Windows, Edge and Bing users.

Go with more ethical alternatives.

Ethical and Sustainable Copilot Alternatives

Le Chat

An AI chatbot developed by Mistral AI, focusing on transparency and ethical AI development.

Le Chat publishes its core language models as open source. For example, Mistral Small 4 and Mistral Large 3 are released under open-source licenses, allowing for fine-tuning and deployment by the community.
Le Chat is developed by Mistral AI, a French company, ensuring compliance with GDPR and European privacy laws. Mistral has been criticised for not allowing easy opt-out possibilities to free tier users. It also uses US Tech for its infrastructure.
Mistral AI emphasises ethical AI development, with transparent policies and user-controlled data settings.
Le Chat offers hybrid deployment options, including on-premises and private cloud, giving users full control over their data.
No registration is required to use Le Chat. You can start a conversation directly on the web interface without an account.
Le Chat has a free tier. The main difference to the paid tiers are the usage limits on Flash Answers.
Website

Lumo

A privacy-friendly chatbot by Proton with zero access encryption.

No registration is required to use Lumo. You can start chatting immediately without logging in or creating an account.
Lumo is based in Switzerland and complies with GDPR, providing strong privacy protections.
Proton Lumo’s code is fully open source, allowing anyone to verify its privacy and security claims. However, the AI models used by Lumo are not explicitly stated as open source in the available information.
Lumo offers a free tier with basic features, and a Plus plan for advanced functionality.
Lumo does not log user conversations or share data with third parties, ensuring a private and secure AI experience.
Website

Duck.ai

An AI chatbot by DuckDuckGo, anonymising prompts to popular chatbot providers.

All interactions are anonymised, and chats are stored locally on the user’s device, not on DuckDuckGo’s servers. Users can delete chats instantly using the "Fire Button."
Duck.ai can be used anonymously with no log in required.
Duck.ai is free of charge. Subscription plans offer access to more advanced AI models.
Website

The 5 main issues with Copilot

Monopoly - Market dominance that stifles competition and limits user choice.

Copilot is pushed into almost all Microsoft products, giving it a competitive edge over other AI providers.Source: The Register: Microsoft's Copilot strategy is just more user abuse from Redmond, says Mozilla (2026)

Support of Authoritarian Regimes - Companies actively supporting, financing and legitimising regimes and unethical policies.

Microsoft is financing Donald Trumps plans to create a new ballroom in the white house, hoping to benefit from upcoming laws. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella donated $1 Million to Trumps inauguration fund.Sources: OpenSecrets: Trump ballroom donors poised to benefit from AI plan they helped shape (2026)The Verge: Tech’s shift to Trump: all the companies and execs kissing the ring (2025)

Tax Avoidance - Aggressive strategies are being deployed to avoid paying taxes.

Microsoft is known for using aggressive tax avoidance schemes and has been fined for it. Source: The Guardian: This article is more than 11 years old US tech giants launch fierce fightback against global tax avoidance crackdown (2015)

Privacy Concerns - User data is likely to be stored and used against users' best interest.

Copilot can see what you see in Edge. It reads protected emails and has leaked such data to the public. It's integration into the many Microsoft products increase the risk of further data leaks or surveillance opportunities. Sources: Heise: Microsoft's Copilot now sees what you see in the Edge browser (2025)CyberNews: Microsoft admits Copilot reads protected emails, rushes worldwide updates (2025)

Misinformation / Manipulation - Spread of false or misleading information, often through algorithmic amplification, which can harm public discourse and trust.

Copilot is vulnerable towards fake news, bias and political cencorship. Sources: Wired: Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda (2025)TechCrunch: Trump’s Silicon Valley advisers have AI ‘censorship’ in their crosshairs (2024)