Microsoft has started rolling out GPT-5 in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio.

For business users, this update is more evolutionary than revolutionary. GPT-5 enables Copilot to adapt to the task at hand, providing either fast responses or deeper reasoning as required.

What changes with GPT-5?

Until now, Copilot (powered by GPT-4) relied on a single model to handle both simple and complex requests. While it could summarise, draft and analyse effectively, it treated every task in the same way.

GPT-5 introduces a more refined dual approach:

• Fast responses for routine tasks.
  When you ask Copilot to summarise a document or extract information from recent emails, a lightweight, high-throughput model provides results in seconds.
• Deeper reasoning for complex work.
  For tasks requiring more judgement, such as evaluating supplier proposals or generating board-level insights, Copilot directs the request to GPT-5’s advanced reasoning model. This takes more time, but produces a more considered answer.
  

This makes Copilot more adaptable, able to select the most appropriate type of intelligence for each task.

Why it matters for your organisation

With GPT-5 in place, Copilot becomes a more useful tool for all aspects of daily work.

• Sharper decision support.
  Copilot now goes beyond reporting data to help you weigh up options.
  
• More relevant context.
  GPT-5 integrates with your Microsoft 365 environment, including documents, chats, emails and meetings, to provide context-specific answer.
• Smarter automation.
  In Copilot Studio, GPT-5 enables custom agents to handle more complex workflows.

FIND OUT MORE: How to Fine-Tune Microsoft Copilot for Your Business

What does this look like in practice?

Here are a few examples of how different teams and leaders could incorporate GPT-5 into their daily work:

• Marketing teams can pull campaign results across email, social and web to gather insights highlighting which channels delivered the best ROI.
• Finance teams can check recent budget spreadsheets against forecasts and flag any variances that need attention.
• Sales teams can draft follow-up emails from CRM notes, prioritise leads and forecast deal close dates.
• Directors and senior leaders can request a summary of the previous quarter’s performance, combining finance, HR  and operations data into a board-ready briefing.
• Operations managers can review service desk logs, identify the most common issues raised and receive suggestions to reduce repeat tickets.
• Project managers can extract milestones, risks and lessons learned from project documentation to speed up reporting.
• Everyday users can turn to Copilot for help with day-to-day questions in Office, Power Automate, the Microsoft 365 suite or other business tools.

A phased roll-out

Microsoft is introducing GPT-5 in Copilot across its platforms. Some users will already see a new 'Try GPT-5' option in Copilot Chat on the web, with availability in other apps, such as Teams, Word and Excel, to follow over the coming weeks.

Microsoft is committed to making GPT-5 available across Microsoft 365 Copilot within 30 days of its release.

Security and compliance considerations

One of the main concerns about adopting AI is security, especially when business data is involved. Microsoft has confirmed that Copilot with GPT-5 keeps your organisation’s information securely within your Microsoft 365 tenant.

Prompts and responses are not used to train the underlying model, ensuring sensitive data stays private.

For organisations operating in regulated industries or handling confidential information, this reassurance is critical.

GPT-5 makes Copilot more powerful while continuing to operate within a secure, compliant framework.

How we can help

With the arrival of GPT-5 in Copilot, now is the ideal time to prepare your people and systems.

We can support you at every stage:

• Copilot Readiness Reviews: helping you identify the best use cases for your teams.
• Training and Workshops: giving your people practical skills and guidance.
• Strategic AI Advice: to ensure AI adoption aligns with compliance and long-term goals.

Every organisation’s journey with Copilot will be different. We’ll help you find the approach that works best for yours.

Supporting organisations in Edinburgh and beyond

At Grant McGregor, we help businesses in Edinburgh and across the UK to make the most of Copilot.

For finance and legal firms, this often involves preparing reports and client documentation more quickly and consistently, reducing compliance risks and saving time.

For third sector organisations, Copilot can be used to manage service user information more efficiently and produce clearer reports for trustees, funders and stakeholders.

For growing SMEs, it’s about freeing up busy teams from repetitive admin tasks so they can focus on customers and scaling the business.

As we work with organisations of different sizes locally, we understand the pressures they face, from compliance and regulatory requirements to operational efficiency and customer service.

By combining our local expertise with Microsoft’s global platform, we help Edinburgh businesses adopt Copilot in a way that delivers measurable value.

Connect with Us Today!

Call us: 0808 164 4142 

Message us: https://www.grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us