Microsoft is testing OpenClaw-like AI bots for 365 Copilot

Microsoft is looking into ways it can integrate OpenClaw-style features into 365 Copilot, according to a report from The Information. The test reportedly comes as part of efforts to make its 365 Copilot AI assistant “run autonomously around the clock” while completing tasks on behalf of users.

Omar Shahine, Microsoft’s corporate vice president, confirmed to The Information that the company is “exploring the potential of technologies like OpenClaw in an enterprise context.” OpenClaw is an open-source platform that allows users to create AI-powered agents that run locally on a user’s device. The platform rose in popularity earlier this year, though it has since raised a number of serious security concerns.

Sources tell The Information that Microsoft is confident that it can implement “safer” versions of the tool. The always-on version of 365 Copilot could reportedly do things like monitor a user’s Outlook inbox and calendar and serve up a list of suggested tasks each day. Microsoft is also exploring OpenClaw-like agents tailored to certain roles, such as marketing, sales, and accounting, to “limit the permissions the agent needs,” siloing them from other parts of a business, according to The Information.

As noted by The Information, Microsoft aims to show off some of these features during its Build conference, which kicks off on June 2nd. Last year, Anthropic launched integrations with its Claude AI chatbot inside Microsoft 365 services, while bringing its Claude Cowork tool to Copilot to help complete “long-running, multi-step tasks.” Bringing OpenClaw-like capabilities into Copilot could help Microsoft reclaim some of the customers it lost to rival services.