People Skills: AI skill inferencing expanded to E3/E5 licenses

AI-powered People Skills skill inferencing will expand to Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 and E5 users, enabling admins to activate this feature in the admin center. Rollout begins late January 2026, enhancing workforce analytics and people-based queries for organizations with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.

[Introduction]

People Skills is expanding AI-powered skill inferencing to include users with Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 and Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 licenses. Previously, AI-powered skill inferencing was available only to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Viva licensed users.

With this update, admins will be able to turn on AI-powered skill inferencing for Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 and E5 licensed users directly in the Microsoft 365 admin center. AI-powered skill inferencing uses AI to automatically identify and update skills on users’ Microsoft 365 profiles based on their work activity from the Microsoft Graph. Learn more: People Skills AI inferencing engine.

As a reminder, People Skills is an intelligent data layer that infers skills from user activity mapped to a customizable built-in skills taxonomy. It enhances Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Viva experiences by providing contextualized information about people across the organization. Learn more about People Skills.

Expanding AI-powered skill inferencing to Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3/E5 licensed users increases skills coverage across the organization, resulting in richer workforce analytics for leaders and more robust results in people-based queries across Microsoft 365 Copilot and related agents.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 548643.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin at the end of January 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-February 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Admins managing People Skills in Microsoft 365.
• Tenants that have at least one Microsoft 365 Copilot license will have access to this control 

What will happen:

• Admins will have the option to enable AI-powered skill inferencing for Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3/E5 licensed users.
• This capability is available directly in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• No changes will occur until an admin turns on this capability.
• People Skills must be set up before AI-powered inferencing can begin.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No action is required at this time. This message is for awareness only.

To prepare for enabling AI-powered skill inferencing for Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3/E5 licensed users after rollout, you can:

• Confirm your tenant has Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 licensed users.
• Confirm your tenant has at least one Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
• Set up People Skills in the Microsoft 365 admin center before enabling inferencing.
• Review the guide: Manage your skills library in People Skills.
• Learn how to set up People Skills.

[Compliance considerations:]

No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.