Catch-up: what GitHub announced
In its October 22 changelog, GitHub announced gradual enforcement of the global default for eligible Copilot features through October 26. This applies to Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise. Eligible generally available feature settings left Unconfigured will be set according to the selected global default as the rollout reaches an enterprise or organization. This is catch-up coverage of that announcement, not a claim that every organization is already enforced.
Make the choice explicit
Administrators can review AI Controls → Copilot → Default policy for new features. GitHub’s documentation says the policy starts enabled by default. The changelog identifies eligible settings under Features & clients and MCP servers in Copilot; the linked documentation explains the hierarchy and exceptions.
Explicit choices are preserved and preview features remain opt-in. For existing unconfigured settings, this is a one-time conversion: changing the global default afterward does not overwrite feature policies already set. The separate default-availability policy for models is a different control.
Check the rollout in your account
The linked concept documentation still contains pre-rollout wording saying the feature policy is not yet active. The dated changelog specifies the October 22–26 gradual window. Use that distinction when reading the sources, and inspect the actual eligible settings in the relevant administration account rather than assuming a universal switch time. We have not tested this rollout in a customer account.
Our take
For a small engineering team, “unconfigured” deserves an explicit review. Decide which capabilities the team intends to allow, record the choice, and check what the rollout actually changed. A global default can reduce repetitive setup, but it does not replace understanding which workflows and information a feature can reach. The right setting depends on the team’s use, not a blanket recommendation to enable or disable everything.