GitHub changed default model enablement for Copilot Business and Enterprise on 29 July.
This is the entry that explains a support ticket a lot of teams filed in July: "the new model is announced but my developers cannot see it".
The problem it addresses
July added four models to Copilot from four vendors. Each one arrived behind a policy switch that a Business or Enterprise administrator had to enable.
The result was predictable. GitHub announced a model, developers read the announcement, the model did not appear, and everyone assumed a slow rollout when the actual blocker was an unticked box in their own organisation.
What to do with it
Whichever way your organisation sets this, decide it deliberately rather than inheriting it.
- Enabling new models by default keeps developers current but means an unreviewed vendor can appear in your toolchain
- Requiring explicit enablement gives you control but guarantees a lag, and a stream of questions every time GitHub ships
It gets more consequential in August
Two days after this change, GitHub published its August deprecation list. Model policy is now a thing that both adds and removes capability from your developers, which makes leaving it unattended the riskier option.