ChatGPTAvailableAdmins, and Microsoft 365 admins
ChatGPT for Word is on by default
On by default from 1 October 2026
People can draft, summarise and revise inside Word with the ChatGPT add-in. Use is charged at API rates against your premium allowance. Workspace admins can switch it off, and Microsoft 365 admins must also allow the add-in.
Why it matters
It is already on unless someone turned it off, and it spends the same allowance as everything else.
Action needed: Decide whether you want it on
SourceChatGPTAvailableEveryone on paid plans
GPT-5.5 retired from ChatGPT
Retired 14 October 2026
GPT-5.5 can no longer be picked in ChatGPT, Work or Codex. The API is not affected.
Why it matters
Saved defaults, agents and scheduled tasks that named it may now behave differently.
Action needed: Check anything that named GPT-5.5
SourceMicrosoft 365 CopilotRolling outEveryone with Copilot
Skills in Copilot Chat, built in plain language
November
Skills move from Cowork into Copilot Chat, and people can create their own by describing them in plain language.
Why it matters
A skill is a set of instructions everyone reuses. A good one saves hours; a bad one spreads the same mistake across the team.
Action needed: Decide who creates and shares skills
SourceMicrosoft 365 CopilotPreviewIT admins
Data loss prevention now covers Cowork
Public preview from October
Microsoft Purview data loss prevention policies extend to Cowork, and you can now set retention for Copilot memory.
Why it matters
Cowork drafts, files and sends on someone’s behalf. The same rules that protect email should protect it.
Action needed: Check your policies cover Cowork and memory
SourceClaudeAvailableTeam and Max plan admins
Monthly API credits on Team and Max plans
7 October 2026
Max and Team plans include monthly API credits, claimed by linking a Claude Console organisation in billing settings.
Why it matters
Credits you have already paid for, useful for testing connectors and small automations. They are not applied automatically.
Action needed: Claim them in billing settings
SourceChatGPTRolling outBusiness workspace owners
Monthly API credits for Business workspaces
28 October 2026
Paid seats earn API credits, pooled across the workspace and capped at US$500 a month. Only someone who owns both the ChatGPT workspace and the API organisation can claim them, and they expire each billing cycle.
Why it matters
Free budget for testing connectors and small automations, lost if nobody claims it.
Action needed: Have the workspace owner claim them
SourceChatGPTComingBusiness and Enterprise
Custom GPTs retire and become plugins
11 December 2026
Custom GPTs are being replaced by plugins. The person who built a GPT migrates it from My GPTs. Custom actions, model choice and sharing settings do not carry across, and the new plugin starts out private.
Why it matters
Anything your team does through a custom GPT stops working on 11 December unless it has been migrated, tested and shared again.
Action needed: Migrate and re-share your GPTs before 11 December
SourceGoogle GeminiComingBusiness and enterprise accounts
Gems stop working for business accounts
No sooner than 1 March 2027
Users can no longer create, edit or use Gems. Any left over are migrated to draft skills, which arrive switched off until their creator reviews and activates them.
Why it matters
Anything nobody checks will quietly stop working. And skills do not sync between the Gemini app and Workspace, so some will need setting up twice.
Action needed: Rebuild important Gems as skills before March
SourceMicrosoft 365 CopilotAvailableWhoever pays for Copilot
Cowork runs on Copilot Credits
Since 16 June 2026
Cowork tasks are billed in Copilot Credits on top of the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, priced on the model, the context, the tool calls and the runtime.
Why it matters
As more of the October features hand work to Cowork, usage grows, and so does the bill.
Action needed: Set up a way to see usage before it grows
SourceGoogle GeminiAvailableAnyone with Workspace Studio flows
“Ask a Gem” steps in Workspace Studio flows
New flows now; existing flows until 2027
New flows can no longer add an “Ask a Gem” step. Existing flows keep working until Gems are retired.
Why it matters
An automation that depends on a Gem will break when Gems go.
Action needed: Replace Ask a Gem steps in your flows
Source