OpenAI announced GPT-5.6, which is set to become the new preferred model in Microsoft 365 Copilot-spanning Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Chat, and Cowork. For Microsoft 365 customers, this update integrates OpenAI's latest flagship model series into the productivity tools people use daily, enabling them to create, analyze, and collaborate with more capable AI assistance across their workstreams. GPT-5.6 is OpenAI's newest flagship model series, delivering more useful work from every token, with stronger performance per dollar and on-demand capability for the most complex tasks.
With GPT-5.6, Microsoft 365 users can produce higher-quality work products with less effort across the apps they already depend on:
- In Word, GPT-5.6 helps people draft, edit, and refine documents with fewer rounds of prompting.
- In Excel, it supports deeper analysis while using tokens more efficiently, helping users move faster from data to insights.
- In PowerPoint, it helps turn early ideas into more polished, visually compelling presentations with less manual guidance.
- In Cowork, it helps users complete complex, cross-functional work and produce higher-quality outputs with less manual coordination.
Nitin Agrawal, President of Copilot & Agents Core at Microsoft, expressed excitement about what GPT-5.6 in Microsoft 365 will enable, noting that customers will be able to work even more effectively with AI in their everyday tools. He highlighted that Copilot powered by OpenAI's latest model will let customers produce more polished outputs in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Cowork, and Copilot Chat-whether drafting documents, analyzing data, creating presentations, or collaborating across teams. He also noted Microsoft's excitement about continuing to build with OpenAI to deliver more powerful AI experiences to people and organizations worldwide.
Nikunj Handa, Head of API Product at OpenAI, noted that Microsoft 365 is where millions of people write, analyze, create, and collaborate every day. By bringing GPT-5.6 to Microsoft 365 Copilot through the OpenAI API, organizations can get more useful work from every token and more value from AI in the tools they already use.
In addition to serving the models natively, Microsoft will also access OpenAI's models directly through the API to bring GPT-5.6 to Microsoft 365 customers.
OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft has always been about bringing the benefits of advanced AI to more individuals and organizations, and OpenAI is excited to continue building on that shared commitment.