Microsoft moves Power BI answers in Copilot chat to mid-August
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Microsoft has updated Message Center item MC1323266 with a new worldwide timeline for Microsoft 365 Copilot answering questions grounded in Power BI reports and semantic models. The feature now starts rolling out mid-August 2026 and is expected to finish by late August. Frontier Private access began 17 June 2026 and Frontier Public (Entra) on 22 June. The capability is enabled by default for users who have Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium and the necessary Power BI permissions. Admins can disable it in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Copilot settings labelled Fabric data in Microsoft 365 Copilot. Users will be able to ask natural-language questions in Copilot Chat and receive answers drawn from shared reports or automatically discovered content. Query data is shared with Fabric for grounding, and existing Power BI licensing still applies for viewing the underlying content.
Until now, most people who needed a number still opened a Power BI report or fell back to an Excel export. Conversational access to semantic models stayed inside the Power BI service and only reached users who already knew where to look. Once the feature reaches general availability, the same models that feed your dashboards can answer free-form questions in everyday Copilot Chat. Any weak measure definition, missing filter context, or undocumented business rule will travel further and still appear authoritative. The Fabric data-sharing step also means the organisation must decide whether that grounding path stays open.
Analysis
Treat the mid-August window as a governance deadline, not a product launch. Confirm with your Microsoft 365 admin whether the Fabric data in Copilot setting will remain on, then review the three semantic models that actually drive your trusted reports and ensure every key measure has a plain-English definition and named owner before the feature lands.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Microsoft moves Power BI answers in Copilot chat to mid-August", Collab365 Spaces. 2 sources referenced.