From the Microsoft edition of November 1, 2026
King County, Wash., records guidance (10/2026): Copilot Chat is the county's approved generative AI tool, its enterprise storage setting is 30 days, and non-transitory prompts and results must be captured into county records
King County Records and Information Management Program (CRIMP) · Local government · King County, Washington, United States
- Publisher
- King County
- Original publication
- 2026-10-26
- Source retrieved
- 2026-11-02
What happened
King County's records programme says Copilot Chat is the county's approved enterprise generative AI tool. Both prompts and results are potentially subject to disclosure under RCW 42.56 and retention under RCW 40.14.010. The enterprise storage setting for Copilot Chat records is 30 days, and content not saved before then cannot be retrieved. The guidance says this setting is not the same as legal retention. Transitory uses (quick edits, brainstorming, search-like questions) need no action. Non-transitory uses (substantive changes, decision support, legal or compliance guidance, anything public-facing) must be copied into other county records and filed under the right schedule (for example 6, 3 or 2 years). Export to Word does not include prompts.
Why it matters
A large US county has documented the gap between Copilot Chat's default storage and public-records retention law, with a manual capture procedure. Any SLED agency rolling out Copilot Chat under state records law faces the same gap.
Evidence and measured results
A primary county guidance document with legal citations, retention examples and a step-by-step capture procedure. It is guidance, not an audit; it reports no data on how often staff capture records.
Limitations and uncertainty
Guidance only; no compliance data. The document is dated 10/2026; the day (Oct. 26) comes from PDF creation metadata. The retention periods are simplified, per the document. Microsoft retention capabilities beyond the 30-day setting are not discussed, so this is the county's chosen configuration, not a product limit.
Put this evidence to work
Lighthouse Advisory interpretation, grounded in this source. Enriched 2026-11-02; this does not change the original publication date. Each role follows the same checklist so takeaways compare across sources.
Sales
Role takeaway
- Customer problem
- An agency has approved Copilot Chat but its default storage does not satisfy public-records retention for substantive uses.
- Stakeholders
- Records manager / records officers
- CIO and IT
- Agency attorneys
- Public disclosure officers
- Department heads
- Discovery questions
- How do staff currently decide whether a Copilot use is transitory?
- How would you find Copilot prompts for a public-records request today?
- Have you configured Copilot retention beyond the default?
- Who audits whether non-transitory AI records are captured?
- Value hypothesis
- A retention design that captures non-transitory Copilot records with less manual effort may lower records-compliance risk.
- Potential engagement
- A bounded records-and-retention review of Copilot Chat, with a recommended Purview configuration and training.
- Unsupported claims
- That Copilot meets state records law by default
- That manual capture is happening reliably
- Any reduction in disclosure workload
Pre-sales engineering
Role takeaway
- Fit
- Strong fit for any SLED tenant subject to public-records retention schedules.
- Architecture and integration
- Copilot Chat storage settings, Purview retention for Copilot interactions, eDiscovery, and records repositories such as SharePoint or Content Manager.
- Prerequisites
- Inventory of retention schedules that AI use could touch
- Current Copilot storage configuration
- Records repository integration
- Constraints
- Retention varies by content and function, not tool
- Export to Word omits prompts
- State public-records statutes differ
- Security
- Shorter storage limits exposure, but holds and retention must preserve non-transitory records and support disclosure searches.
- Proof of value
- Test whether a configured retention policy keeps prompts and results together
- Run a sample disclosure search for Copilot content older than 30 days
Delivery
Role takeaway
- Work
- Align Copilot Chat storage with records schedules and train staff to capture non-transitory AI records.
- Dependencies
- Records programme sign-off
- IT configuration change
- Legal review of disclosure process
- Ownership
- County records programme with IT; agency records officers for local compliance.
- Skills and adoption
- Short training built on the guidance's transitory and non-transitory examples, plus job aids for capture.
- Governance checkpoints
- Records programme approves the retention configuration
- Training delivered before broader rollout
- Quarterly capture sampling
- Acceptance criteria
- Proposed: sampled decision-support Copilot uses are captured at least 90% of the time
- Proposed: disclosure searches return Copilot prompts and results together
- Proposed: zero confirmed losses of non-transitory AI records in a review period
- Risks
- Users misclassify uses as transitory
- Manual capture skipped under time pressure
- Feature changes alter storage behaviour
Implementation considerations
Lighthouse Advisory interpretation across the operating dimensions a public-sector buyer must settle before this evidence becomes a design. Each note answers the question under its heading for this specific source.
Architecture and integration
What must connect, and where does the AI sit in the workflow?
The county relies on a 30-day storage setting plus manual copy-and-paste or Export to Word into Word, email or Content Manager. There is no automated capture of non-transitory Copilot records in the guidance.
Governance
Who approves, reviews and stays accountable for outcomes?
Records responsibility sits with each user deciding whether a use is transitory. That puts a judgement call on every employee and makes training and spot checks important.
Security and privacy
What data, permissions and controls need testing?
Short storage limits exposure, but content may still be discoverable for a few days after 30 days. Losing non-transitory records is a compliance risk under state law.
Accessibility and workforce
Who is affected, and what skills or accommodations follow?
Staff must learn to classify AI use as transitory or not, and to capture prompts manually, since Export to Word omits them.
Procurement
What should contracts, pricing and exit terms secure?
Agencies buying Copilot should budget for records configuration and training, not only licences.
Operating model
Which teams own the service once it runs?
Records management (CRIMP), KCIT and each agency share ownership; the user is the first-line decision maker on retention.
Publication history
- 2026-11-01Microsoft · Issue 043 resources
Stable resource ID: king-county-wa-records-guidance-copilot-chat-30-day-storage-not-legal-retention-202610