Imagine having an AI assistant that doesn't wait for you to ask it something - one that just quietly gets on with your tasks while you sleep. That's the vision Microsoft is apparently working toward for its 365 Copilot product, and it's closer than you might think.
According to a report from The Information, Microsoft is testing OpenClaw-style features inside 365 Copilot as part of an effort to make the AI assistant capable of running autonomously, around the clock, completing tasks on behalf of users without constant input.
What does "autonomous" actually mean here?
This is where it gets interesting. Most AI tools we use today are reactive - you type a prompt, you get a response. What Microsoft seems to be exploring is something more proactive: an AI that can keep working in the background, handling tasks without needing you to hold its hand through every step.
OpenClaw is an open-source project that forms the basis of what Microsoft is reportedly experimenting with. 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."
Why this matters for how we work
For anyone who spends a meaningful chunk of their day inside Microsoft 365 - think Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel - this kind of shift could be genuinely significant. Rather than a smart autocomplete tool, you'd be looking at something closer to a capable digital colleague that takes initiative.
The productivity implications are real. Repetitive tasks, email triage, document summarisation, calendar management - these are exactly the kinds of low-creativity, high-time-cost jobs that eat into your day. An AI that handles them autonomously could free up serious mental bandwidth.
Of course, the flip side is that handing over that much autonomy to any software raises fair questions about oversight, errors, and just how much you want your tools acting without direct instruction. Enterprise users in particular will want to know exactly what guardrails are in place.
Still early days
It's worth noting this is still in the testing phase - Microsoft is exploring, not announcing. But the direction of travel is clear. The company is investing heavily in making Copilot more capable and more independent, and this latest move fits squarely into that strategy.
For now, keep an eye on how this develops. The way we interact with productivity software could look quite different in the not-too-distant future - and whether that's exciting or a little unsettling probably depends on how much you trust your inbox to someone else.
