Autopilots: Microsoft launches Microsoft Scout, a new personal AI agent

Microsoft delivered major AI announcements this year at its annual developer conference, Microsoft Build.

One of the biggest AI announcements from today's event is arguably Microsoft Scout, a brand new personal AI agent from the company. Microsoft Scout is the first in a new category of AI agents that Microsoft is calling Autopilots, "always-on agents that work autonomously, with their own identity, and act on your behalf."

"As models become more capable and more available, the differentiator for any organization is no longer access to intelligence, but ownership," Microsoft said in a statement. "How does your expertise, data and way of working become a system that continuously learns and drives better outcomes? The goal is an ecosystem that gives companies their own agency, not one that funnels value back to a consultant or the model maker."

"Your agents should reflect how you think and operate, from your business logic and institutional knowledge, down to your workflows," the company continued.

That's where Microsoft Scout comes in.

Microsoft Scout is a new "always-on" personal autonomous agent for work. Microsoft says the AI agent will "understand how you work, use the tools you already live in, like Teams and Outlook, and proactively handle things like meeting prep, scheduling conflicts, and routine tasks without asking."

According to Microsoft, the new agent is built on OpenClaw and WorkIQ. OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent that took the industry by storm late last year. Earlier this year, in February, OpenAI acquired OpenClaw and hired its founder. According to Microsoft, WorkIQ is "the core AI intelligence layer behind Microsoft 365 Copilot."

During the Microsoft Build 2026 keynote, Microsoft positioned its tools as a safer way to run AI agents.

“Agents can execute multi-step workflows locally while running inside an operating system-enforced boundary rather than unmanaged user sessions,” said Microsoft Developer CMO Kyle Daigle. “This reduces risk when agents execute code, access files, or interact with networks on the device.”

At a media briefing ahead of Microsoft Build, the company also outlined new Microsoft execution containers designed to run agents securely.

“Microsoft is making Windows an agent-native runtime, and that starts with the new Microsoft execution containers," Daigle said. "These will be in preview, and it gives developers and IT administrators a single way to create those enterprise-grade sandbox environments for agents with containment that's enforced by the operating system itself. So you can describe your requirements once, and Windows enforces them everywhere your agents run.”

How to try Microsoft Scout

Microsoft Scout is available now for Frontier customers.

Frontier is Microsoft's platform that provides early access to its latest AI products in Microsoft 365. The company says that any Microsoft 365 subscriber has access to Frontier. Microsoft says it will have more to share about Scout as well as a broader rollout soon.

You can learn more about Autopilots and Microsoft Scout at the Microsoft website.