Microsoft 365 Consumer Subscriptions Are Transitioning to Shared AI Benefits and Cloud Storage

Microsoft has started emailing subscribers to its Microsoft 365 consumer plans about upcoming changes to AI benefits and cloud storage. The good news is that all members of a Microsoft 365 Family or Microsoft 365 Premium plan will now get access to Copilot and AI features. However, these plans will also transition to a shared cloud storage pool.

Until now, AI benefits on Microsoft 365 Family and Microsoft 365 Premium plans were only available to the subscription owner. These AI features include advanced Copilot chat with higher usage for conversations and image creation, Copilot integration into the Office apps, all-day video calling in Teams, and more.

While Copilot benefits and AI usage will be shared with family members, Microsoft will also introduce a shared AI usage allowance for all members of a subscription. If needed, Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers will be able to purchase additional AI credits.

Regarding cloud storage, as of today, each member on the same subscription gets 1TB of OneDrive storage. Microsoft will replace that with 2TB of shared storage for its Microsoft 365 Family subscription, while the Microsoft 365 Premium and Microsoft 365 Pro plans will get 2TB and 5TB of shared storage, respectively. Primary subscribers will still be able to add up to five additional members on the same plan.

“While storage quotas are shared, files remain private. Each member can access only their own files unless they explicitly share content with others. Shared storage changes how storage is allocated across the subscription, not who can see your files,” Microsoft explained on a support page.

For existing subscribers, this new Microsoft 365 shared storage policy will come into effect after the first subscription renewal on or after May 2, 2027, unless an eligible plan change occurs earlier. The company also said that existing Microsoft 365 Family and Premium customers in supported markets who meet eligibility requirements “might receive bonus storage when their subscription renews after shared storage rolls out.”