Microsoft has introduced Autopilots, a new category of AI agents designed to work autonomously in the background and act on behalf of users inside Microsoft 365. The company announced the new agents at Microsoft Build 2026, where Chief Executive Satya Nadella introduced Scout as Microsoft’s first Autopilot. Scout is built into Copilot and Microsoft 365 and is designed to help users reduce routine coordination work.

Microsoft has introduced Autopilots, a new category of AI agents designed to work autonomously in the background and act on behalf of users inside Microsoft 365.

The company announced the new agents at Microsoft Build 2026, where Chief Executive Satya Nadella introduced Scout as Microsoft’s first Autopilot. Scout is built into Copilot and Microsoft 365 and is designed to help users reduce routine coordination work.

Autopilots are always on AI agents that can keep working in the background without needing a prompt for every action.

They are designed to understand how a user works across apps and systems, then take action within the permissions and policies set by the user and the organization.

Microsoft is positioning Autopilots as enterprise-grade autonomous agents that can run inside a company’s tenant with compliance, identity and governance controls.

Scout is the first Autopilot agent and is built for Microsoft 365 users.

The agent connects with Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint, along with work data such as chats, email, calendars, and contacts.

Users can interact with Scout through Teams and extend its reach through a desktop app to the browser, local resources, and model context protocol servers.

Scout is designed to monitor work activity and identify tasks that may need attention.

It can help prepare users for meetings, flag important messages, coordinate meeting times across time zones, identify upcoming deliverables, and block calendar time for work that needs to be completed.

The agent can also detect risks such as stalled decisions, giving users a chance to address problems before they turn into larger blockers.

Users will be able to customize Autopilots, including names, speaking styles, context, and memory.

Microsoft says organizations can control what Autopilots are allowed to access and what actions they can perform.

Scout uses its own governed Entra identity instead of operating through a shared anonymous service account. This makes its actions traceable and keeps access tied to enterprise identity and permission rules.

Sensitive actions can also require human approval before they proceed, while Microsoft Purview policies such as sensitivity labels and data loss prevention controls are enforced.

Microsoft Scout is powered by open-source technology.

Microsoft is also contributing policy conformance work back to OpenClaw, allowing organizations running OpenClaw to check whether their environment meets security and compliance requirements.

Microsoft employees have already been using an early Scout desktop experience.

Scout is now available as an experimental release for Frontier organizations and select customers in private preview.

Access requires Frontier enrollment, Intune policy configuration, andopt-inn attestation. Users with a GitHub Copilot license can then download and install the experience.

Microsoft plans to expand Scout over the coming months and add more agents, including options for users to build their own Autopilots.

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