GPT-5.6 Release: New Preferred Model for Microsoft 365 Copilot

OpenAI has announced that GPT-5.6, its latest flagship model series, is now the preferred model for Microsoft 365 Copilot. This update integrates advanced AI capabilities into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Chat, and Cowork, enabling users to produce higher-quality work with reduced manual effort and improved token efficiency.

Model Performance and Efficiency

GPT-5.6 is designed to deliver more useful work from every token, offering stronger performance per dollar and on-demand capability for complex tasks. By utilizing the OpenAI API, Microsoft 365 customers can access these capabilities directly within their existing productivity suite.

Application-Specific Enhancements

The integration of GPT-5.6 into Microsoft 365 Copilot provides specific improvements across several key applications:

• Microsoft Word: Users can draft, edit, and refine documents with fewer rounds of prompting.
• Microsoft Excel: The model supports deeper data analysis while utilizing tokens more efficiently to accelerate the transition from data to insights.
• Microsoft PowerPoint: GPT-5.6 helps transform early ideas into polished, visually compelling presentations with less manual guidance.
• Microsoft Cowork: The model assists in completing complex, cross-functional work and producing higher-quality outputs with less manual coordination.

Strategic Partnership and Deployment

Microsoft 365 Copilot will access GPT-5.6 both natively and through the OpenAI API. This deployment strategy is intended to provide millions of users with more powerful AI experiences and increased value from AI within their daily workstreams.

"Microsoft 365 is where millions of people write, analyze, create, and collaborate every day," stated Nikunj Handa, Head of API Product at OpenAI. "By bringing GPT-5.6 to Microsoft 365 Copilot through the OpenAI API, we’re helping organizations get more useful work from every token, and more value from AI in the tools they already use."

"Using Copilot powered by OpenAI’s latest model, customers will be able to produce more polished outputs in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Cowork, and Copilot Chat," said Nitin Agrawal, President of Copilot & Agents Core at Microsoft.