At the annual Microsoft Build 2026 conference, CEO Satya Nadella introduced Scout, Microsoft’s first autonomous AI agent designed to work continuously in the background without requiring user prompts. Built to enhance workplace productivity, Scout operates across Microsoft Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, and device-level actions, proactively supporting users throughout their workday.

Powered by Microsoft’s Work IQ context engine, Scout learns from an individual’s work patterns, files, relationships, and workflows to deliver personalized assistance. A key differentiator is its governance model, with every Scout agent running under a dedicated Entra identity rather than a shared service account, ensuring all actions remain attributable, auditable, and compliant with enterprise security requirements.

Administrators can define policy controls, monitor agent activity in real time, and maintain oversight of autonomous operations. Scout is built on the open-source OpenClaw framework and incorporates enterprise-grade security protections.

The solution is currently available through an experimental early-access program for Frontier organizations, requiring enrollment, Intune policy configuration, and opt-in attestation. GitHub Copilot users can also access and install the experience.