Microsoft releases an autonomous agent similar to OpenClaw

“Scout is specifically designed to be an assistant for office workers. This assistant can send commands directly in Teams like a real colleague,” Omar Shahine, Vice President of Microsoft, told Wired after the company introduced Scout at the Microsoft Build event on June 2.

Scout is cloud-based and compatible with desktop and web browsers. Users can easily connect to their inbox, calendar, and other systems on their computer, as well as into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Scout will come with built-in skills for managing calendars, drafting meeting agendas, and more.

According to Shahine, Scout is part of a larger transformation at Microsoft that puts virtual assistants at the core, helping to automate how employees use the software and integrate AI assistants into daily interactions in the office. If users let Scout know their goals and interests, the agent can proactively assign and receive tasks.

For example, Shahine said he told Scout to “always protect dinner time with the family.” The agent complies by whenever there is a proposed meeting that falls within that time slot, it marks and automatically suggests a rescheduling option, which is then sent to colleagues.

Also according to the Microsoft Vice President, the idea for Scout is to create a virtual assistant that proactively adapts to user needs. “We all have our own interesting habits in the way we work, and people are encoding those habits into memories and skills that are preserved through virtual assistants,” he told TechCrunch in another interview. “The virtual assistant will then become more capable, understand you better, have more autonomy and the ability to make good judgments.”

However, Scout is not perfect. Shahine said this AI’s responses are sometimes inaccurate, lengthy and meaningless. However, he believes that ultimately, the tool is useful for everyone, especially those who are not technically savvy or do not feel comfortable operating complex AI agents.

Scout comes with security measures to address concerns about AI agents operating out of control without supervision – an issue OpenClaw encountered earlier this year, when an AI agent acted abnormally in a researcher’s mailbox. Microsoft’s system will integrate a “policy compliance” mechanism, which continuously checks whether the AI ​​is operating according to established regulations and guidelines. Each time an audit occurs, the agent will create a separate audit log for tracking and reconciliation when needed.

According to Microsoft, due to incomplete features, Scout is only deployed internally, as well as through the Frontier pilot program. Users also need to sign up for GitHub Copilot to use it. The American software company has not announced the launch time for end users.

After the OpenClaw craze earlier this year, more and more companies are releasing similar products. In March, Nvidia announced NemoClaw – an agent platform built on OpenClaw but with integrated enterprise-level security and privacy features. At Google I/O 2026 last month, Google also introduced Gemini Spark to support office work automation.