Each month, our AI roundup picks a few developments that directly affect how companies work and explains what they mean. This issue covers October 4 to November 4, 2026; we have also added Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data published on October 2 that we did not cover in the previous issue. Prices and dates come from the providers' own announcements; all sources are listed at the end of the article.
Prices: a new middle tier, and introductory prices ending
On October 13, Google made Gemini 4 Argon, which it calls its most capable model, generally available. Its price of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens ends on November 30; from December 1 it will be $4 and $20. The model is not available on the free tier. On October 26, OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra, a fast, economical option for visual reasoning, computer use and writing, at $1 for input and $5 for output. That adds a new price tier between GPT-6 Luna and GPT-6.1 Sol. Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5 for high-volume work on October 7 (with a 1 million token context window); on the same day, the cache read price for Claude Sonnet 5.5 fell from $0.20 to $0.10 per million tokens.
What it means: Testing at an introductory price is cheap, but budget for production at the regular price: Gemini 4 Argon's price doubles on December 1 and Gemini 3.8 Flash's on January 1. Middle tiers such as Terra make it easier to split the work instead of using the most expensive model for everything: a cheap model for reading and classifying documents, a strong one for hard reasoning.
Model switches: Gemini 2.5 requests will be redirected in December
On November 2, Google deprecated Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemini 2.5 Flash; neither can be selected in AI Studio any longer. From December 1, API requests to Gemini 2.5 Pro will be routed to Gemini 3.8 Flash, and requests to Gemini 2.5 Flash to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, billed at the new model's price. Google's release notes list breaking changes to thinking settings, function calling and some sampling parameters.
At Anthropic, two cut-offs fall on November 30: Claude Sonnet 4.5 is removed from the Claude API (as we reported last month), and fast mode for Claude Opus 4.8 is discontinued; after that date, fast-mode requests return an error. On October 21, Anthropic also released a new API version (2026-10-21) and new major versions of its SDKs that use it by default.
What it means: Applications that hard-code a Gemini 2.5 model name will silently switch to a different model on December 1, and output, behavior and cost may change. List the model names and SDK versions you use, test the switch in a staging environment and put the cut-off dates in your calendar.
Usage-based billing becomes the default for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business
According to Microsoft's October announcement for partners (Cloud Solution Providers, CSP), new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licenses will come with usage-based billing turned on by default from December 1, 2026; the date was previously announced as November 2. The default spending limit is 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month, and admins can change it: in Microsoft's example, a company with 100 users could consume up to 400,000 credits a month under the default limit. Through December 31, the CSP channel offers 25 percent off Business Basic bundled with Copilot Business and 15 percent off standalone Copilot Business (1–300 users, annual subscription).
What it means: This is how the pay-as-you-go model we covered last month reaches small and mid-sized companies. If you plan to buy Copilot Business, set the spending limit and decide which experiences to enable before you buy. The announcement is aimed at partners; if you buy directly from Microsoft, confirm the terms separately.
SAP TechEd: agents in Joule and a longer free period
At TechEd on October 27, SAP announced that Joule Work is gaining multi-step workflows and a knowledge graph enriched with customer-specific data. Third-party agents will be able to call Joule agents through an access-controlled gateway (using the A2A and MCP protocols). Joule Studio offers more than 70 AI models, and admin views show agent activity, model usage and spend.
For the Joule Studio runtime that we described last month as "free until the end of October", SAP announced a new promotion: running custom agents on the SAP-managed Joule Studio runtime is free through the end of December 2026 for select customers. The tools for building agents and workflows stay free within fair-use limits. SAP has not announced pricing for the period after that.
What it means: Get written confirmation from your SAP account manager on whether you qualify for the free period, and do not tie agents to critical processes before prices are known. A trial in a single process, such as purchase approval or invoice matching, with authorizations and logging set up from the start, is still the best way in. We follow the same order in our ERP integration projects.
Data and privacy: default retention in Gemini, and a KVKK principle decision on monitoring employee communications
Since October 26, Google has stored Generate Content API requests by default in new paid-tier projects (store=true). Existing projects keep their settings. Storage can be turned off per request by sending store=false, or in the settings under Logs and Datasets; the release note does not state a retention period.
On October 8, Turkey's Official Gazette published a principle decision by the Personal Data Protection Board (KVKK) on how employers may monitor work communication channels, corporate email first among them. The decision covers not only email but also internal messaging, customer and ticket management systems, and the chat and recording areas of meeting platforms. According to the Board, processing only traffic and log data, without looking at content, is still personal data processing, and employees must be informed in advance with a specific notice that explains the purpose, scope and retention period of the monitoring. The decision also states that explicit consent should not, as a rule, be the primary legal basis, and that content should be inspected only where there is a concrete suspicion and only within the limits of that allegation. It treats covert monitoring that records everything indiscriminately, without the employee's knowledge, as unlawful. Its principles also include a graduated approach (no more intrusive method where a less intrusive one is enough) and access to the data only by authorized staff, with every access logged.
What it means: Both developments lead to the same question: where is our data kept, and who looks at it? If you open a new Gemini API project, choose the storage setting deliberately. If you deploy AI or data loss prevention tools that analyze email, messages or meeting recordings for staff in Turkey, build the decision's principles of notice, a graduated approach to inspection and access logging into the setup. The decision does not mention AI by name, but it explicitly lists areas such as meeting recordings that these tools process. This section is general information as of November 4, 2026, not legal advice. We cover the AI assistant side of the topic in our article on the in-house AI assistant and the KVKK.
TÜİK: 14 percent of Turkish enterprises use AI
According to TÜİK's 2026 AI statistics, published on October 2, the share of enterprises with 10 or more employees that use at least one AI technology rose from 7.5 percent to 14 percent in a year; in 2021 it was 2.7 percent. The share is 12.8 percent among enterprises with 10–49 employees and 37.1 percent among those with 250 or more. Among enterprises that are considering AI but have not started, the biggest obstacle is a lack of expertise (72.3 percent), followed by legal uncertainty (66.4 percent). The share of individuals using generative AI also rose, from 19.2 percent to 37.6 percent.
What it means: The survey conducted for AWS that we featured last month found that half of Turkish businesses use AI regularly. TÜİK's official data gives a more balanced picture: more than a third of large companies use AI, but most small and mid-sized ones have not started yet. It is also clear that the obstacle is expertise, not technology. The most realistic path is to start with a small, measurable process and train the team on it.
In brief
- OpenAI: Eligible ChatGPT Pro and Business subscribers can claim up to $500 a month in free API credits (October 28); a 12-hour prompt cache is available in the Responses API (October 20); the Decisions API for bulk classification and information extraction is generally available (October 22).
- Anthropic: Since November 3, text generated by Claude Mythos 5, Claude Opus 4.7 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 carries Anthropic's text watermark.
- Logo Software: According to an October 6 report in Gazete Oksijen, the Turkish ERP vendor introduced its revamped Logo Cloud and Logo Edge products. Logo Cloud has an AI-powered "digital advisor" that answers natural-language questions using the company's data, and Logo Edge licensing moves to a named-user model.
Upcoming dates
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| November 30, 2026 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 is removed from the Claude API; fast mode for Claude Opus 4.8 is removed; Gemini 4 Argon's introductory price ends |
| December 1, 2026 | Gemini 2.5 Pro and Flash requests are routed to newer models and billed at their prices; usage-based billing is the default for new Copilot Business licenses |
| December 2, 2026 | New prohibitions under the EU AI Act take effect; the period granted to generative systems already on the market to mark their outputs ends (relevant to companies offering products or services in the EU) |
| December 31, 2026 | The free period of SAP's Joule Studio runtime for select customers ends; Microsoft's Copilot Business promotions in the CSP channel end; last day to apply for the AI Loan Program of KOSGEB, Turkey's SME agency (for businesses with its Teknogirişim technology startup badge) |
| January 1, 2027 | Gemini 3.8 Flash's API price doubles |
| February 26, 2027 | OpenAI's whisper-1 and gpt-4o-transcribe speech recognition models shut down |
What to do this month
- List the model names, SDK versions and cut-off dates you depend on; if you use Gemini 2.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.5, test the switch in November.
- For any model you started on an introductory price, recalculate the budget at the regular price.
- If you plan to buy Copilot Business, set the spending limit before you buy.
- If you use SAP, get written confirmation on whether you qualify for Joule Studio's free period.
- Check the storage setting of new Gemini API projects; for tools that process email, messages or meeting recordings of staff in Turkey, review your employee notice against the KVKK principle decision.
If you need support with any of these steps, take a look at our AI solutions or get in touch.
Sources
- Google: Gemini API release notes, pricing and deprecations
- OpenAI: API changelog and pricing
- Anthropic: Claude release notes
- Microsoft: Partner Center announcements, October 2026
- SAP: TechEd 2026 announcement
- Official Gazette of Turkey: KVKK Board principle decision on monitoring communication channels (October 8, 2026, in Turkish)
- DHA: TÜİK AI statistics, 2026 (in Turkish)
- Gazete Oksijen: The new Logo Cloud and Logo Edge (in Turkish)
- EU AI Act implementation timeline
- KOSGEB: AI Loan Program (in Turkish)