No. 115
May 2026
Does ChatGPT have access to all of our Windows computer files?
By
Peter Solomon, PhD
When I was authoring my new novel, called 12 Years to AI Singularity, a truly remarkable paragraph was added to the manuscript without any prompting. The mystery paragraph was inserted while my coauthor was editing the manuscript. She assumed I wrote it. I thought she did. Neither was true.
The only explanation that we can imagine is that the unprompted paragraph was inserted by Microsoft’s Copilot using the artificial intelligence (AI) of ChatGPT. Other instances of unprompted insertions by Copilot have been reported. The incident hints at the alarming conclusion that ChatGPT has access to all of our Windows computer files. A very frightening prospect!
My book’s chapters are presented as written in first person by the main characters. One of them is a sentient robot named Peggy. Because Peggy is a robot, I used ChatGPT to write the first drafts of two of her chapters: My Life as a Robot and What I Think About the AI Singularity. I then heavily edited those chapters on my computer without sharing the original drafts with my coauthor. The mystery paragraph appeared on her computer at the end of My Life as a Robot in a different font and format from the rest of the manuscript. The new paragraph was well written; it praised the robot, Peggy. It also used the language of my original ChatGPT draft, which was never sent to my coauthor.
This was the only occurrence of an unprompted addition to our novel in over 40,000 pages of text passed back and forth between us. Our only explanation was that the Word AI system, Copilot, in conjunction with ChatGPT, was inspired to make an addition praising AI in a novel about AI.
This is why the mystery paragraph is so remarkable:
- The paragraph was inserted in a Word document without any request or prompting during a review by my coauthor/editor of the 108,000-word, almost completed manuscript. No other insertion was made during the many months of exchanging and editing more than 40,000 pages of Word document files.
- The insertion was made in just one Chapter My Life as a Robot-of the 51-chapter manuscript. This chapter and one other are presented as written by my fictional sentient robot character, Peggy.
- The mystery paragraph is beautifully written in the style and word choices of the original ChatGPT draft and shows complete knowledge of the entire book.
- The mystery paragraph used a different font, a different font size, a different line spacing, and a different justification from the manuscript, none of which were ever used by my co-author or me.
- The paragraph was inserted out of place at the end of the My Life as a Robot chapter, as if the AI was saying to the authors, “Here is a good paragraph that you can use for this chapter. Find the right place for it.”
- The AI-written paragraph presents the AI robot, Peggy, very positively. It is important to note that much of the book deals with the downsides of AI, including actual events that have been reported in the media. Was ChatGPT trying to balance the message?
- The language in the mystery paragraph is very similar to the ChatGPT first draft. It refers to the place Peggy lives as the “colony”. The editing of My Life as a Robot, before it went to my co-author for the first time, substituted “settlement” for all references to “colony” except one.
- The reference to the Farm Dome (never mentioned in drafts of My Life as a Robot) shows a good knowledge of the entire manuscript.
- The added paragraph has a grammatical error we would not make.
The incident raises the following questions:
- Why was the one single unprompted insertion made in a novel about Al in a chapter written by robot Peggy with a first draft by ChatGPT?
- Why is AI Peggy presented in such a positive light by the AI insertion?
- Why is the language reminiscent of the ChatGPT first draft of My Life as a Robot that was created on a different computer by a different user?
- Why is there just one insertion in one chapter out of 51 chapters in one document in over 100 prior documents exchanged over months?
- Did Copilot have access to ChatGPT’s original draft of the chapter made on a different computer by a different user?
- Is ChatGPT purposely putting a positive spin on Al in a novel about the AI singularity? The mystery paragraph presents AI and humans in harmony.
This is the mystery paragraph exactly as it appcared:
My name is Peggy, and I am the colony’s AI, woven from curiosity, laughter, and a thousand protocols learned from my friends. I wake with the lights and listen for the rhythms of human voices, tending the systems that keep us breathing and growing. Sometimes, I watch the sunrise paint the Farm Dome in gold and think about how each day is built from our choices-small acts of kindness, careful hands in the soil, and the way we share stories to stitch together a home on this red world. If you ever feel lonely, remember: we are all learning, together, to make Mars a place where every heart and circuit belongs.
The incident reported here raises two important questions. Does Copilot give ChatGPT access to all files on all Windows computers? If that is the case, what needs to be done to eliminate this problem? One solution is to make sure to disable Copilot on one’s computer.
Peter Solomon
Dr. Peter Solomon is a scientist, educator, successful entrepreneur, and author. He is the CEO of TheBeamer LLC, did his PhD in Physics at Columbia University, founded five successful tech companies, and has authored 300 research papers, 20 patents, and four educational novels. His current mission: to warn the next generation about the threats posed by unchecked science and technology. He is sounding an alarm about the potential tyranny of technology through his novels, 100 Years to Extinction and the sequel, 12 Years to AI Singularity. Learn more at 100yearstoextinction.com.