Microsoft put a number on the main stage at FabCon Europe 2026: 85% of AI projects fail. The reasons it gave were poor data quality, missing context and cost. Almost everything announced at the event follows from that, and one of the changes is already switched on in your tenant.
Every conference produces a long list of announcements and no indication of which ones you can plan around. Some are generally available and billable today. Some are in preview with no price. A few will change what your reports say, who can question your data, or what lands on your next capacity invoice. Sorting one from the other is the job, and it is easier with someone who sat in the sessions.
The quality of every AI answer is now the quality of your semantic model.
Who can now question your data
Copilot now answers questions straight from your semantic models. A badly defined model used to produce a report nobody opened. Now it produces an answer somebody repeats to the board. One setting decides who can ask, it is on by default, and most organisations have not looked at it yet.
Why the numbers move before ten
Reports that are slow first thing and fine by mid-morning, or totals that change between half eight and nine, are rarely a modelling problem. Teams spend weeks tuning DAX for a cause that sits somewhere else entirely. The briefing sets out the measurements from a session we sat in, and the warehouse feature that now stops the numbers moving properly.
Where the capacity money goes
Fabric does not bill the way most people assume. Usage is smoothed over time, so the day something went wrong is not the day it shows up. Overage runs on a meter of its own, and a reservation is not always the cheaper option. Nobody in the business usually owns the number, so it gets reviewed when finance asks rather than when it changes.
What the guide covers
- The verdict table: every FabCon Europe 2026 announcement marked as real or not yet, with our advice on whether to plan around it
- How to check the per model AI access setting that is already on by default in your tenant
- The four dates to put in the diary, from the Q&A retirement to the EU AI Act deadlines
- How to stop Direct Lake reports running slow first thing in the morning
- A practical guide to capacity costs, including overage at three times the rate and the 60% break-even for reserved capacity
Who this is for
Heads of data, BI leads and finance directors in mid-market organisations running Power BI or Fabric. Especially if you have been asked what FabCon means for your plans and need to know what to act on this quarter and what to ignore.