Summer roundup part 1: Four Microsoft 365 and Copilot updates worth your attention

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While many of us have been enjoying some well-deserved summer leave, Microsoft certainly hasn't slowed down. Over the past few months, we've seen a steady stream of announcements across Microsoft 365 Copilot, Viva, and the broader AI platform, with new features, administrative controls, and service changes arriving at a rapid pace.

This post is the first in a short summer roundup series highlighting some of the Microsoft 365 updates that caught my attention while many of us were away from our desks. In this edition, I'll look at changes to Microsoft 365 Copilot administration, new AI model options, improvements to the Copilot experience, and new capabilities for tracking AI usage and costs.

Microsoft introduces OpenAI-operated models for Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft has introduced a new admin setting that gives eligible organizations the option to use OpenAI-operated models in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio. According to Microsoft, this creates a foundation for greater model flexibility and faster access to new AI model innovations, including GPT-5.6. Microsoft states that prompts and responses continue to be covered by the same enterprise-grade security, compliance, and data protection commitments defined in the Microsoft Product Terms and Data Protection Addendum. OpenAI models operated through Microsoft Azure OpenAI are not affected by this setting.

Administrators should pay close attention to this change. The new setting was introduced in the Microsoft 365 admin center on July 9, 2026 and, unless action was taken beforehand, was automatically enabled for eligible tenants on July 24, 2026. Organizations that do not want Microsoft 365 Copilot to use OpenAI-operated models running on OpenAI infrastructure must explicitly configure the setting to "No users". Microsoft notes that some Copilot capabilities may be unavailable when access to OpenAI-operated models is disabled.

The feature became available in July 2026 and is described in Message Center announcement MC1422074. While Microsoft positions this as a way to accelerate access to the latest AI model innovations, administrators should review the setting carefully and ensure their organization's AI governance and data handling requirements are aligned with the selected configuration.

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Copilot service plan becomes the primary control for Copilot experiences

Microsoft has announced changes to how the Microsoft 365 Copilot service plan controls access to Copilot experiences. Going forward, the Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat service plan will become the primary control determining whether users receive Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium), Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic), or Copilot Chat (Basic). According to Microsoft's service description, some Copilot experiences are available to both Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic) and Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) users, while other capabilities require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. This change is intended to provide a more predictable and manageable experience for administrators by making the service plan the primary control governing the Copilot experience a user receives.

An important change is that Personal Content Mode will no longer be activated when the service plan is disabled. Users with the service plan turned off will instead have access to a primarily web-grounded Copilot experience with reduced Microsoft Graph grounding in supported apps. Microsoft notes that licensing and SKU assignments remain unchanged, but the Copilot experience available to users may differ based on service plan configuration.

Rollout is expected to begin in late July 2026 and complete by early August 2026. I could not find a corresponding Microsoft 365 Roadmap item for this update at the time of writing, so the rollout timeline is based on Message Center announcement MC1405498 in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. As always, Microsoft timelines may change.

More information: 

Copilot Search gets more concise AI summaries

Copilot Search in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app will soon provide shorter, easier-to-scan AI-generated summaries above search results. Users will also see a more prominent option to continue the conversation in Copilot chat, with the search context preserved for follow-up questions and deeper exploration.

The change will be enabled by default for all Microsoft 365 Copilot users on web and desktop, with no changes to existing admin controls or policies.

Rollout is expected to begin in late July 2026 and complete by late August 2026. I could not find a corresponding Microsoft 365 Roadmap item for this update at the time of writing, so the rollout timeline is based on Message Center announcement MC1392570 in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. As always, Microsoft timelines may change.

More information: 

Viva Insights adds Copilot cost management insights

Microsoft Viva Insights now includes cost management insights that help organizations track Copilot credit consumption across AI services such as Cowork and the WorkIQ API. The feature provides visibility into usage-based costs and Copilot credit usage across services and groups, helping organizations better understand AI spending. Available to managers with at least five direct reports, Insights analysts, and global administrators, it also includes a new Advanced Insights query template for analyzing AI spend, with options to export data to CSV or connect to Power BI for reporting. Microsoft notes that the feature does not change Copilot pricing or billing and is enabled by default.

The feature reached General Availability on June 30, 2026 and is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 566302.

That wraps up the first installment of this summer roundup series. Microsoft 365 Copilot and the broader Microsoft 365 platform continue to evolve at a remarkable pace, and there are still several announcements and feature updates from the summer months worth taking a closer look at.

I hope this overview has helped you catch up on some of the changes that may impact your organization. Thanks for reading, and if you'd like to stay up to date with future Microsoft 365 and Copilot updates, you can find a link to my LinkedIn profile in the main menu on the front page.

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