- Microsoft unveils Autopilots, its next-generation AI agents
- Autopilots will work in the background and perform tasks on your behalf
- Microsoft Scout is the first autopilot that links to your Microsoft 365 apps
Microsoft has announced the launch of Autopilots, a new kind of AI agents that can run autonomously in the background, so you can focus on the tasks that really matter.
Speaking at Microsoft Build 2026, CEO Satya Nadella unveiled Scout, the company’s first autopilot similar to the OpenClaw offering, built into Copilot and Microsoft 365.
Autopilots will run in the background and learn how you work and operate, with the ability to act as needed to be asked to perform tasks independently.
Microsoft Scout
“You can think of autopilots as enterprise-grade Claws—these are autonomous, long-running agents with full enterprise compliance that run in your tenant,” Nadella noted.
“They’re a whole new way to reduce wear and tear and get you back to what you love.”
Users can customize autopilots however they like, including names and speech patterns, as well as full control over their context and memory. They will also be able to set specific permissions and policies that the autopilots must also adhere to, making sure they don’t do anything they shouldn’t.
“Today we’re introducing a new category of agents called Autopilots,” Microsoft said in a blog post announcing the news. “Autopilots are always active agents that work independently with their own identity and act on your behalf.”
Scout will be able to take on a wide range of tasks, including keeping an eye on your Outlook inbox and Teams messages, alerting you to calendar information or specific emails, to monitoring anything that might need your attention, such as helping you prepare for meetings and tasks.
“Scout works where you work … it’s the future of what we’re thinking about, of the Copilot ecosystem itself,” Nadella added.
Frontier users can try Scout now — Nadella said he was already using it himself — with Microsoft set to build out the platform over the coming months, adding more agents and also the ability for users to build their own autopilots.
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