For enterprises with Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise plans, two separate policies control whether unconfigured generally available (GA) features and models default to enabled or disabled.
If these policies are enabled, users benefit from the latest features and models without the need for administrator intervention.
Default availability of features
The Default policy for new features and clients policy applies to any new or existing GA feature that you have not explicitly configured.
When does the policy apply?
Your setting for this policy determines the default enablement status of:
- Newly released GA (general availability) features
- Existing GA features that are Unconfigured in your policy settings
The policy can be configured in an enterprise and its organizations. At the enterprise level, it applies to features labeled as Unconfigured. At the organization level, it applies to features that an enterprise owner has set to Let organizations decide, but that an organization owner has not explicitly configured.
The policy does not apply to features in preview.
Policy states
At the enterprise level, the policy has the following possible states.
| Policy state | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Let organizations decide | The "default availability" policy decision is delegated to organizations. An unconfigured feature is set to "Let organizations decide" if its policy supports that option; otherwise, it is disabled. For a feature delegated to organizations and not explicitly configured by an organization owner, the organization-level "default policy" for new features determines its availability. |
| Enabled everywhere | Any unconfigured, GA feature is automatically enabled for all your Copilot users, and organizations cannot disable it. |
| Disabled everywhere | Any unconfigured, GA feature is automatically disabled for all your Copilot users, and organizations cannot enable it. |
What counts as a feature?
For the purposes of this policy, a "feature" refers to any policy configured on an enterprise's "Features & clients" page (github.com/enterprises/ENTERPRISE/ai-controls/copilot/features), plus:
- The Copilot code review policy on the "Agents" page
- The MCP servers in Copilot policy on the "MCP" page
The following policies are exceptions and are not affected:
- Restrictive model policies on GHE.com: Restrict Copilot to data residency models and Restrict Copilot to FedRAMP models
- Store local sessions in the Cloud for Copilot CLI and VS Code
Default availability of models
The Default availability for released models policy is active and affects new and unconfigured GA models.
Note
This policy is not related to the default model that is selected for users' sessions. See About Copilot auto model selection.
Which models follow the policy?
The default policy applies to models that you have not explicitly configured. These models are indicated in your enterprise or organization's model settings with the Delegate to Default Policy label. When a new model is released, it inherits the default until you explicitly configure it.
The following models are not in scope. They are disabled by default, regardless of your "Default availability" policy setting.
- Pre-GA models
- Open weight models (DeepSeek, Kimi K3)
- Models that are not covered by GitHub's data retention agreement (Claude Fable 5, Claude Fable 5.1)
- For enterprises that have restricted models to data-resident or FedRAMP-compliant models, any models that do not respect these policies
Policy states
At the enterprise level, the Default availability for released models policy has the following possible states.
| Policy state | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Any model labeled Delegate to Default Policy is automatically enabled for all your Copilot users, and organizations or teams cannot disable it. |
| Disabled | Any model labeled Delegate to Default Policy is automatically disabled for all your Copilot users, and organizations or teams cannot enable it. |
| Let organizations decide | (Not available in enterprise teams mode.) Any model labeled Delegate to Default Policy is automatically available for organizations to enable or disable. In each organization, an eligible model follows the organization-level Default availability for released models policy if the organization has not explicitly configured it. |
Policy states for models
The status of each model in your enterprise's model settings reflects whether or not it follows the default policy.
| Model status | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled or Disabled | Explicitly configured. Does not follow the default availability policy. |
| Delegate to default policy | Has not been configured. Follows the default availability policy. |
| Unconfigured | Has not been configured. Does not follow the default availability policy. For example, a model in preview. |
| Delegate to organizations or Delegate to Enterprise Teams/Apps | (Depends on whether you have enabled enterprise teams mode.) Explicitly configured. Does not follow the default availability policy at the enterprise level. However, if delegated to organizations, will follow the organization-level default availability policy for each organization that does not explicitly configure the model. |
How do I prevent default enablement?
To disable default enablement entirely, disable the default policies in your enterprise or organization's settings. You can set a policy for the entire enterprise, or disable the policy only in organizations with stricter compliance requirements.
If you keep the default availability policies enabled, you can explicitly disable individual features and models so that they are not eligible for automatic enablement.
- For features, see Managing policies and features for GitHub Copilot in your enterprise and Managing policies and features for GitHub Copilot in your organization.
- For models, see Managing availability of models in your enterprise and Managing the availability of models in an organization.
How do I prepare for new releases?
We recommend keeping up with new releases and GA announcements so you can choose your enablement settings. New features and models are announced on GitHub's changelog. For more information, see Learning about new features and models.
