Microsoft rolls out GPT-5 across its Copilot suite - here's what we know

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ZDNET's key takeaways

• Microsoft is rolling out GPT-5 to all its AI offerings, Thursday.
• The Copilot chatbot will provide GPT-5, even to free users.
• GPT-5 will also be available to coding and enterprise tools.

OpenAI released its much-anticipated upgrade to the engine that powers ChatGPT and many other AI implementations, including Microsoft's AI offerings, Thursday.

Concurrent with the GPT-5 release, Microsoft announced that it is upgrading its consumer, developer, and enterprise users with the GPT-5 models.

Also: GPT-5 is finally here, and you can access it for free today - no subscription needed

The company called specific attention to the testing results of its AI Red Team, which is OpenAI's security and harm-reduction operation.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Based on the team's tests using its security protocols, "The results show that the reasoning model exhibited one of the strongest AI safety profiles among prior OpenAI models against several modes of attack, including malware generation, fraud/scam automation and other harms."

Also: ChatGPT can now talk nerdy to you - plus more personalities and other upgrades

Microsoft said the upgrades will be available starting today, although at the moment of writing, they're still not available in my tool stack. They may be by the time you read this.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft uses the "Copilot" branding in a lot of its AI offerings, but when it's used in a standalone format (i.e., just "Microsoft Copilot"), then the company is talking about its chatbot.

Also: Gen AI disillusionment looms, according to Gartner's 2025 Hype Cycle report

The chatbot now offers a new Smart mode, which the company said will "help anyone discover the best possible solutions to their queries." GPT-5 is available in Copilot for all users, including those without a subscription.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft said Copilot with GPT-5 is "better at reasoning through complex questions, staying on track in longer conversations and understanding the user's context."

Microsoft 365 Copilot users will be able to use the GPT-5 engine to "reason over emails, documents and files." Specifically calling out enterprise users, Microsoft said the new LLM will allow customers to work through more complicated problems.

Microsoft Copilot Studio

Microsoft's Copilot Studio is Microsoft's answer to ChatGPT Agent, but with the ability to build custom agents. Now, Microsoft says that users can "select GPT-5 in custom prompts to enable agents to take on more complex business processes."

GitHub Copilot

The last time I put GitHub Copilot to the test, it was using a GPT-4-based learning model. And it failed about half of my tests. Microsoft is rolling out a preview of GPT-5 to all those using paid GitHub Copilot plans.

Also: ChatGPT can no longer tell you to break up with your boyfriend

I really like GitHub Copilot because it beautifully integrates into VS Code, the ultra-popular coding environment used by millions of developers. But because the AI failed my tests, I've been cautious about relying on it.

With GPT-5 integration, that may change. Stay tuned. I'll be re-running my tests with GPT-5 and we'll see if Microsoft can join OpenAI and Google in the winners' circle of test results.

Azure AI Foundry

Finally, Microsoft is making all GPT-5 models available to developers. GPT-5 isn't just one model. Rather, it's the brand that encompasses:

• GPT-5: the full reasoning model, with a 272,000 (272k) token context
• GPT-5 mini: designed to power "real-time experiences"
• GPT-5 nano: a model designed for ultra-low-latency and speedy responses
• GPT-5 chat: a model that "enables natural, multimodal, multi-turn conversations that remain context-aware throughout agentic workflows, with 128,000 (272k) token context."

In Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft's cloud-based AI development platform, the company is offering a "model router" that evaluates each prompt and decides which model is best suited to the problem being considered.

More to watch 

ZDNET's team will be working with GPT-5 and putting it to the test. Stay tuned for lots of great coverage on this big announcement.

What do you think of Microsoft's rollout of GPT-5 across its AI platforms? Have you tried Smart mode in Microsoft Copilot yet, or explored how the GPT-5 engine handles reasoning in Microsoft 365 Copilot? If you're a developer, are you using Azure AI Foundry or planning to experiment with its model router? And if you've used GitHub Copilot before, do you think GPT-5 will finally get it across the finish line? Let us know in the comments below.

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