Soon, colleagues in Microsoft Teams may not be for everyone. Scout, the always-on AI agent announced at Microsoft’s Build developer conference on Tuesday, can go through your work messages, calendar, and email inbox to automate tasks, reschedule meeting discussions, and write meaningful responses.
Microsoft is building an enterprise agent more or less OpenClaw, an AI tool that excited the first adopters of San Francisco in early 2026. Scout is specially designed to be an assistant for office people, who can send commands directly to Teams as if the agent were a carbon-based colleague.
Scout is part of Microsoft’s massive transformation, the first agent, to automate how knowledge workers use software and to incorporate AI assistants into everyday office interactions. “Your company is essentially hiring your assistant,” said Omar Shahine, vice president of Microsoft Scout. “The important thing about having an assistant is that he works when you are not working.” So, while you eat some Doritos and gossip around the office vending machine, Scout is busy blocking off the calendar for next Tuesday’s all-hands meeting and generating talking points based on recent messages.
Microsoft is launching this feature with a small group of customers, hoping to expand access soon. In addition to the Teams integration, Microsoft is also testing the Scout desktop app. This app is being rolled out today to subscribers who have chosen to access the “frontier” feature, and currently requires users to have an active GitHub Copilot subscription.
If users tell Scout their goals and preferences, the bot can automatically assign tasks. For example, Shahine told Scout to always secure a time for dinner with family, so whenever a meeting was proposed on his calendar at that time, the agent would mark it and automatically suggest rescheduling options to colleagues.
Courtesy of Microsoft
By accessing your email and messages, an AI agent can try tasks related to your work. Shahine asked Scout to compile all his data and create an updated list of every time someone made an offer to him and every time he made a commitment to someone else. Then, Scout can send you reminders about open tickets and draft follow-up plans.
Anyone testing Scout should expect some rough edges as Microsoft iterates on this agent. Shahine says her Scout—named Sebastian—sent an email the other day. “It was just one big sentence, no formatting.” It’s important to find a balance of what tasks you feel comfortable automating and what should happen under your direct supervision.
Shahine still sees Scout as an ultimate benefit for all experienced workers, especially those who are not tech savvy and don’t feel comfortable using an agent through a terminal. “Our internal sales organization is probably the largest and fastest growing group using this,” he said.
