January 2026 updates: AI, Cloud, and .NET

January is a quieter month in the southern hemisphere, almost vacation time. Still, the world does not stop and a few things happened. Here are some updates I saw that may interest you.

GitHub Copilot: models and platform

GPT-5.2-Codex in GA

New code-focused model available for Copilot Pro, Business, and Enterprise. Interesting and overall fast enough for Copilot usage.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-14-gpt-5-2-codex-is-now-generally-available-in-github-copilot/

Legacy model retirement

GitHub announced the retirement of legacy models (older Claude and OpenAI) with an effective date in February. This impacts model selections and existing automations. Key ones include Opus 4.1, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and GPT-5 with its Codex version.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-13-upcoming-deprecation-of-select-github-copilot-models-from-claude-and-openai/

Copilot Agents and Memory

Copilot Memory in public preview

Persistent, repo-level memory shared across chat, CLI, and agents. Very useful for repos with historical context or complex business rules.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-15-agentic-memory-for-github-copilot-is-in-public-preview/

Copilot CLI: the month focus

Major improvements

Adds plan mode, better context handling, background delegation, and smoother integration with GitHub CLI.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-21-github-copilot-cli-plan-before-you-build-steer-as-you-go/

Copilot CLI installable from gh

You can now use Copilot CLI directly via:

gh copilot

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-21-install-and-use-github-copilot-cli-directly-from-the-github-cli/

Copilot SDK and extensibility

Copilot SDK in technical preview

Official SDK to integrate Copilot programmatically. Includes a .NET SDK (GitHub.Copilot.SDK).

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-14-copilot-sdk-in-technical-preview/

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)

Improvements in configuration and provider support for enterprise environments.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-15-github-copilot-bring-your-own-key-byok-enhancements/

Azure DevOps

Copilot + Azure Boards in GA

Copilot can generate code from work items, create linked PRs, and maintain Boards <-> Repo traceability.

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/release-notes/2026/boards/sprint-268-update

Let me know in the comments which update I missed that you would like to share with the community.