Image: GitHub
Why it mattersAny team that fixed MAI-Code-1-Flash as its model in a Copilot policy, script, or IDE model list has to plan the move to MAI-Code-1.1-Flash now, before GitHub fully turns the deprecated model off.
GitHub deprecated the MAI-Code-1-Flash model across every GitHub Copilot experience on September 10, and told teams to move to MAI-Code-1.1-Flash. The change affects Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions on the same day it was announced.
Where it applies
The deprecation covers every Copilot product at once, and the changelog names them explicitly: Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask mode, agent mode, and code completions. GitHub tells teams to "update your workflows and integrations to use a supported model," and says no action is needed to remove the deprecated model from the model list.
The replacement
MAI-Code-1.1-Flash is the suggested direct replacement. Enterprise administrators may need to enable access to the replacement through policy settings before the model shows up in the Copilot Chat model selector for their users. GitHub's changelog directs enterprise customers with concerns to their account manager.
The third round of Copilot deprecations in about ten days
On August 31 GitHub retired five models effective September 1. On September 3 it announced that Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code, and Claude Opus 4.7 all stop working on October 2, with Gemini 3.8 Flash, Kimi K3, and Claude Opus 5 named as their respective replacements. Today MAI-Code-1-Flash joins them, with same-day effect.
The pattern shows models changing fast under a single Copilot brand, and it makes every team that treats Copilot as infrastructure decide whether to fix a specific model. Fixing a specific model name now creates real maintenance work. A team that fixes a model has to track its model's retirement date, plan the change, and re-test whatever prompt engineering was tuned to that model's behavior. A team that lets Copilot pick the model avoids that work but accepts whatever tradeoffs the current default has. Neither choice is free, and every deprecation is a reminder to review which of the two your organization actually made.
The change also shows which models run behind Copilot, which users usually cannot see. MAI-Code models come from Microsoft AI's own research, so a Copilot deprecation of MAI-Code-1-Flash is Microsoft replacing models from its own line inside its own product, at a speed no customer team can slow down. The name change from MAI-Code-1-Flash to MAI-Code-1.1-Flash looks small. For a team that hardcoded the older string in a config, a script, or a policy, it is a real find-and-replace across every place that string appears.
The notice period varies. The September 3 batch of four deprecations gave teams almost a month, with an October 2 cutoff. Today's changelog gives none: it says the model is deprecated today, September 10, and the alternative may still need an admin toggle before it appears in the model picker. That is the shortest notice a Copilot user has been given in these ten days.
Source
This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.
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