Microsoft forms a dedicated team to introduce OpenClaw-style autonomous agents into 365 Copilot, planning a preview at the June Build conference.

ME News message, April 14 (UTC+8). According to monitoring by 1M AI News, Microsoft is developing new features inspired by the open-source AI agent tool OpenClaw, integrating them into its enterprise AI assistant 365 Copilot. Omar Shahine, a vice president at Microsoft, confirmed that the company is “exploring the potential of technologies like OpenClaw in enterprise environments,” including building a set of AI agents that can work around the clock in Microsoft 365 applications on behalf of users.

Charles Lamanna, who leads Microsoft’s enterprise agent management product Agent 365, is driving this initiative and has recently assigned about 12 engineers to a new team led by Shahine. The core goal is to shift 365 Copilot from passive responses to proactive execution: for example, continuously monitoring users’ Outlook mailboxes and calendars and automatically generating daily to-do lists; and when users are working on a specific worksheet tab in Excel, automatically organizing the other tabs in the background.

The team is also discussing building dedicated agents by functional role (marketing, sales, finance, etc.) to reduce enterprise security risks by limiting the scope of permissions. Some features are expected to be previewed at the Build developer conference opening on June 2, but the product plan is still in its early stages and may be adjusted or canceled.

The backdrop for this move is the competitive pressure Copilot is facing. In January, Microsoft disclosed that its 365 Copilot paid users totaled 15 million, accounting for only 3% of the total Office 365 user base. Earlier this month, Anthropic announced that Claude can directly connect to users’ Microsoft 365 applications to operate PowerPoint and Excel, and last Friday it also previewed automated Word document features, continuing to encroach on Copilot’s ground. Microsoft’s stock is down 24% cumulatively this year, making it the worst performer among large tech stocks.

In recent weeks, CEO Satya Nadella has elevated transforming Copilot to the top priority and reorganized Copilot engineering teams for both the consumer and enterprise sides. Last week, Judson Althoff, Microsoft’s business CEO, told employees that in the March quarter, Copilot sales exceeded the “very ambitious” target. (Source: BlockBeats)