Microsoft Tests OpenClaw-Style Agents for Copilot
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- Microsoft is testing OpenClaw-style AI agents for its Microsoft 365 Copilot to make the assistant "run autonomously around the clock" and complete tasks on users' behalf, according to a report from The Information.
- Omar Shahine, Microsoft's corporate VP, confirmed the company is "exploring the potential of technologies like OpenClaw in an enterprise context."
- The always-on Copilot could monitor a user's Outlook inbox and calendar and serve up a list of suggested tasks each day, per The Information.
- Microsoft is also developing role-specific agents for marketing, sales, and accounting that silo permissions from the rest of a business to "limit the permissions the agent needs."
- OpenClaw is an open-source platform for building AI agents that run locally on a device; it surged in popularity earlier this year but has since raised "serious security concerns" that Microsoft says it can address with "safer" versions.
- Microsoft plans to demo some of these features at its Build conference, which kicks off on June 2.
Why it matters: Microsoft is trying to reclaim enterprise customers it lost to Anthropic's Claude, which launched inside Microsoft 365 last year. By building always-on, role-specific agents with tightly limited permissions, the company is betting it can match rival agent platforms while neutralizing OpenClaw's documented security concerns — a pitch it plans to put on stage at Build on June 2.
