Microsoft launches Scout, an always-on Autopilot agent

Microsoft introduced Scout at Build 2026 on June 2 in San Francisco. Scout is an always-on Autopilot agent built on the open-source OpenClaw runtime. It connects to Teams, Outlook, OneDrive and SharePoint to automate scheduling, flag stalled decisions, reserve calendar time and coordinate tasks. Scout runs in the background across Microsoft 365 to perform recurring coordination actions without repeated prompts. Private preview begins now.

Microsoft classifies Scout as its first “Autopilot”—a continuously running assistant that handles workplace coordination such as scheduling across time zones, blocking calendar time before deadlines and highlighting items that need follow-up. Scout integrates with Microsoft 365 services and is intended to act on relevant messages, files and calendar items under organizational controls.

Scout is built on OpenClaw, an open-source agent runtime released in January 2026. OpenClaw accumulated about 180,000 stars on GitHub within three months. Microsoft added enterprise security features to Scout and plans to contribute policy controls back to the OpenClaw project.

At Build, Microsoft also announced Work IQ APIs, which will be generally available June 16. The APIs create a real-time model of organizational activity by analyzing email, calendar, meetings, files and collaboration patterns. Microsoft reported that internal tests processed that data roughly twice as fast as traditional Microsoft 365 APIs and cut token usage by about 80%.

Availability is limited. Scout is offered through a private preview and the Frontier program. Enterprises must enable Scout via Intune policy configuration, opt into an attestation process and hold a GitHub Copilot license to install the agent. Microsoft described the target users as knowledge workers who want routine coordination handled automatically rather than by manually prompting a chatbot.

Microsoft also showed updates to Windows to support agents, including new execution containers and local model support. At the Build keynote, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called agents ‘the new operating system for work.’

OpenClaw’s rapid uptake drew attention from companies and developers. Its creator, Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, joined OpenAI in February. Microsoft said building Scout on OpenClaw brings the project into Microsoft 365 while allowing the company to avoid creating a separate closed agent runtime.