Microsoft has taken a new step in the field of AI agents. At the recent Build annual developer conference, Microsoft officially launched a new AI assistant called Scout. The product aims to deeply integrate the flexibility and companionship of cutting-edge agents into the existing Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Notably, the underlying framework of Scout comes from the open-source agent project OpenClaw, which caused a stir in the tech circle earlier this year. Although the founder of OpenClaw was later hired by OpenAI, leading to a drop in the project's popularity, its design philosophy of high freedom and unlimited agents has clearly been deeply absorbed by Microsoft.

Different from the monotonous voice assistants on the market, Scout emphasizes round-the-clock online availability and personalized "persistent identity." Users can even customize the name of their own Scout instance. As a "growing" tool, its core value lies in long-term interaction and feedback: the system continuously internalizes users' behavioral patterns and work habits into unique memories and skills. As the training deepens, the agent will better understand user intent and independently make more personalized complex processing and judgment.

In terms of application scenarios, Scout runs in the cloud and spans desktop and web browsers, seamlessly connecting users' email, calendar, and other office systems. In addition to basic skill packages such as schedule management and meeting agenda preparation, Microsoft also hopes that users will develop exclusive advanced skills through daily customization.

Regarding the previous issues with OpenClaw, where it caused chaos in researchers' email due to lack of control during testing, Microsoft has made sufficient preparations in terms of security. Scout is equipped with a strict "policy compliance system," which can automatically audit any unauthorized or abnormal behavior of the agent around the clock, and each compliance check will generate an auditable log to prevent AI agents from deviating when unattended.

Currently, this feature is available as part of Microsoft's experimental product program, initially offered to early adopters of the Frontier project. Users can unlock it after subscribing to GitHub Copilot. With the addition of Scout, along with the simultaneous launch of the hardware project Project Solara and the new inference model, Microsoft's fundamental framework for enterprise-level collaborative AI is becoming increasingly clear.