Elon Musk slams Microsoft PC laptop set-up process

Tesla chief and billionaire Elon Musk claimed that he was unable to use the device unless he signed up for a Microsoft account

Elon Musk on Monday criticised Microsoft [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Elon Musk on Monday criticised Microsoft, claiming that the company would not let him use a new PC laptop unless he made an account.

“Just bought a new PC laptop and it won’t let me use it unless I create a Microsoft account, which also means giving their AI access to my computer! This is messed up. There used to be an option to skip signing into or creating a Microsoft account. Are you seeing this too?” he posted on X (formerly Twitter) to his more than 170 million followers.

The Community Notes feature on the platform issued a correction, clarifying that the latest version of Windows could be installed without a Microsoft account.

However, Musk criticised his own platform’s context-providing tool and said the option no longer existed. His post received a second Community Note that insisted set-up without making a Microsoft account was possible but that the “average Andy” might not be familiar with these more complex workarounds.

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“This is not cool of Microsoft,” Musk posted in response to a user who shared a workaround.

Microsoft is a major backer of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, and the software giant has used OpenAI’s technology to boost its own products and search with generative AI features.

Musk in April last year threatened to sue Microsoft, alleging that the company scraped Twitter data for training purposes.

Microsoft has already been sued by multiple parties such as journalists and writers, who claimed that the company and OpenAI illegally used their data to train AI models.