Microsoft is exploring ways to integrate features like OpenClaw into its existing Microsoft 365 Copilot tool. The new features, the company confirmed to The Information, will be aimed at business customers, with better security controls than the notorious open source agent OpenClaw.
OpenClaw is a tool that runs locally on a user’s computer and can create agents to perform tasks on a person’s behalf. If Microsoft comes up with its own version of Claw – that is, an agent that works in your environment – the effort could join a number of other agent tools that the company has announced in the past few months.
In March, for example, Microsoft announced Copilot Cowork, designed to take action in Microsoft 365 applications, not just to provide search results or chat in a different work environment. Cowork is powered by its “Work IQ” technology, an intelligent layer that tries to personalize Cowork for the user across Microsoft 365 applications.
Microsoft also tapped Anthropic’s Claude to run Cowork, after it partnered with the AI lab late last year. Microsoft has added Claude as an option available in Cowork. (Although OpenClaw can work with many models, Claude remains the model of choice for many open source project users.) However, Cowork does not run on local hardware; running in the cloud.
In February, Microsoft also introduced Copilot Tasks, another agent designed to complete tasks, which was released at the time in preview. The marketing materials made this agent sound like it was aimed more at prosumers than businesses, with tasks it should be allowed to handle ranging from organizing email (a Microsoft 365-like task) to organizing travel and appointments (tasks outside of the Microsoft Office suite of applications). This, however, also works in the cloud.
It is not clear yet if this Claw will be native or if it will just adopt other features like OpenClaw. Microsoft told Information that one of the main features of the agent is that it will actually be a version of 365 Copilot that is always active, able to take action at any time. A vision is an agent that can complete multi-step tasks over a long period of time.
Although the open source project OpenClaw can run on Windows machines, the Mac Mini has become the go-to platform for OpenClaw users. So much so that the small, affordable, cube-shaped Mac Mini desktops have been selling like hotcakes. So, beyond security, Microsoft may have many reasons for wanting its own version.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026
The company is expected to show off this new Claw (or an improved version of one of its existing Claw-like tools) at its Microsoft Build conference in June, The Verge reports.
We’ve asked Microsoft how the new Claw agent fits in with these other agents and will update the story when we receive a comment.
