product updateMicrosoft
GitHub removes premium AI models from free Copilot Student plan
GitHub has removed premium AI models including GPT-5.4, Claude Opus, and Claude Sonnet from its free Copilot Student plan effective March 12, 2026. The change leaves students with access only to lower-cost models: Claude 4.5 Haiku, Gemini 3.1 Pro, and GPT-5.3 Codex. GitHub's decision triggered 2,874 downvotes versus 21 upvotes on the announcement, with students arguing they need premium models to learn industry-standard tools.