Microsoft testing Scout, Copilot agent that works in the background without a prompt

Microsoft announced Scout, the first Copilot application that works in the background. Microsoft calls such applications in Windows Autopilots and plans to create many more in the future.

Scout can, among other things, keep track of the inbox and schedule meetings across various time zones, Microsoft reports. The software is partly based on the open source code of the OpenClaw project, which allows users to create always-active AI agents.

Users can set the integrations and goals in Scout and thus create a personalized Scout for their own use during the working day. Scout proposes actions himself and does not wait for a prompt. Microsoft is not releasing Scout publicly, but is first testing it with a limited group of customers. It is not yet known when the function will become more widely available. Microsoft announced Scout at its own developer conference Build.

Microsoft Scout is available as an experimental release through Microsoft's Frontier program. To use Scout, a GitHub Copilot Business or Enterprise subscription is required. Those subscriptions cost $19 and $39 per user per month, respectively.