Microsoft 365 Copilot: Updates to Copilot Tuning and transition to Microsoft Copilot Studio

Microsoft 365 Copilot tuning via Agent Builder templates will pause to transition to Microsoft Copilot Studio, introducing a skill-based architecture. Existing agents remain functional; tuning stops by August 20, 2026. Public preview starts September 2026, general availability in December 2026. No automatic migration; admins should complete tuning beforehand.

[What and why]

We're updating the tuning experience for Microsoft 365 Copilot declarative agents. As part of this transition, Copilot Tuning capabilities currently available through selected Agent Builder templates will be temporarily paused while we move the experience to Microsoft Copilot Studio.

This change prepares for a new tuning experience that will use a skill-based architecture and provide enhanced tuning capabilities for business scenarios. Existing agents will continue to function during the transition period.

[Rollout schedule]

• Public Preview: Beginning in September 2026
• General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning in December 2026

[Impact on your organization]

Who is affected

• Organizations using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot declarative agents created with supported Agent Builder templates
• Admins, developers, and makers managing or creating declarative agents

Platforms and services

• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Microsoft Copilot Studio

What will happen

The Tune option will be temporarily unavailable for agents created from the following templates:

• Document Writing
• Document Summary
• Style Editor
• Document Validation
• Expert Question Answer

The Optimization template will be retired.

• Existing agents created with these templates will continue to work.
• Agents that currently use fine-tuned models will continue operating with those models.
• Untuned agents, including agents using tuning context only, will continue to operate as standard declarative agents.
• Organizations can continue creating new agents from supported templates during the transition period. However, tuning capabilities will not be available and these agents will function as standard declarative agents until the new tuning experience becomes available.

Agents will not be automatically migrated or modified as part of this change.

[Action required and recommendations]

No action is required to keep existing agents running.

We recommend that administrators and makers:

• Complete any tuning activities prior to the transition date..
• Review any active tuning jobs before the transition date.
• Inform agent owners that new tuning requests will not be available during the transition period.
• Watch for additional guidance about the new tuning experience in Microsoft Copilot Studio and options for reusing previously trained models.

Any incomplete or in-progress model tuning runs that have not finished by August 20, 2026, will be discarded.

[Compliance considerations]

Question	Answer
Does this change provide end users, makers, or developers with a new way to interact with generative AI?	Yes. The future tuning experience will introduce a new method for creating and tuning Copilot agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio.
Does this change modify how administrators or makers manage AI solutions or agent configurations?	Yes. The Tune option will be temporarily disabled for affected templates, the Optimization template will be retired, and organizations will need to use the future Microsoft Copilot Studio experience for tuning once it becomes available.
Does this change provide administrators or makers with control over whether and when they adopt the new experience?	Yes. Existing agents will not be automatically migrated or updated, and organizations can choose whether and when to recreate agents using the new tuning experience after it becomes available.