Utility models are a small set of models that are automatically enabled for all GitHub Copilot users across every plan. They power background features such as the generation of commit messages or chat session titles, and they apply across Copilot surfaces: in IDEs, on GitHub, and in Copilot CLI.
How do utility models work?
Utility models:
- Are not visible in the model picker and cannot be selected by users directly.
- Cannot be disabled by organization or enterprise administrators, except by disabling Copilot completely.
- Do not consume premium request units or tokens for usage-based billing, and do not appear as a billed line item in usage reports.
- Are subject to per-user rate limits.
These characteristics ensure that Copilot features work smoothly regardless of your model policies and billing controls.
List of utility models
Utility models are typically selected for being fast and lightweight. The following models are currently used as utility models:
- GPT-4o mini
- GPT-4o
- GPT-4.1
- GPT-5.4 nano