MC1296867: Microsoft Agent 365 becomes generally available (GA)

[Introduction]

Microsoft Agent 365 is moving to general availability (GA) on May 1, 2026. GA indicates that Agent 365 is ready for enterprise production use, with clearer licensing boundaries, improved governance, and predictable support. This release incorporates customer feedback from the Frontier program while continuing to provide a dedicated path for early access to preview capabilities.

[When this will happen]

General Availability (Worldwide): May 1, 2026

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft 365 tenants currently enrolled in the Agent 365 Frontier program
• Admins managing Agent 365 through:
  • Microsoft 365 admin center
  • Microsoft Entra
  • Microsoft Defender
  • Microsoft Purview
  • Microsoft Intune
• Organizations planning to evaluate or deploy Agent 365 in production

What will happen

Agent 365 GA experience

• Trial and paid Agent 365 licenses now represent the GA, enterprise-ready experience.
• Agent 365 licenses are available as:
  • A standalone SKU
  • Part of Microsoft 365 E7
• GA licenses are available across all commercial channels. Information about EDU, Charity, and Government SKUs will be shared later.

Frontier program

• Frontier continues to provide early access to preview features.
• Frontier and preview features are clearly labeled in-product as Preview or Frontier.
• Frontier is not intended for production deployment and does not include SLAs.

Workload-specific details

• Microsoft 365 admin center
  • No functional changes at GA.
  • Preview and Frontier features remain clearly tagged.
• Microsoft Entra
  • Agent-related Identity Governance features (such as access packages and lifecycle workflows for agent sponsor maintenance) require an Agent 365 license to continue use.
  • Existing use of Conditional Access and Identity Protection for agents continues without change.
  • Network Control for agents (for example, prompt injection protection, threat intelligence filtering, shadow AI detection, web and URL filtering, and network file filtering) requires an Agent 365 license.
  • Network Control on local endpoint devices continues to work if the Global Secure Access client is installed. Learn more about installing the Global Secure Access client for Windows.
• Microsoft Defender
  • Agent protection features remain in preview for Defender for Cloud Apps and Defender for Cloud.
  • Copilot Studio AI security posture, real-time protection, and investigation capabilities will require an Agent 365 license when each feature reaches GA in a future release.
• Microsoft Purview
  • Frontier participants retain access to Purview capabilities for agents, including:
    • AI Observability
    • Data Loss Prevention
    • Insider Risk Management
    • Communication Compliance
    • Compliance Manager
    • Data Lifecycle Management
    • eDiscovery
  • After the Frontier program ends, Purview coverage for all agents managed in Agent 365 will require an Agent 365 license.
• Microsoft Intune
  • Frontier customers licensed with Intune can discover Windows devices running OpenClaw via a new Agent 365 Shadow AI page in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • Admins can apply policies to block common OpenClaw execution methods and link to the Intune admin center for advanced controls.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required to remain enrolled in the Frontier program.

• Important to note:
  • Frontier access continues automatically at GA.
  • A temporary interruption to Frontier access (up to 48 hours) may occur during the transition.
  • Frontier does not include production SLAs or support guarantees.
• If you plan to use Agent 365 in production:
  • Start an Agent 365 trial or purchase a paid license.
  • Review which workloads and features in your tenant require Agent 365 licensing.
• To opt out of the Frontier program:
  1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  2. Go to Copilot > Settings > Copilot Frontier.
  3. Set access to No access.
• Share this update with your security, compliance, and helpdesk teams to set expectations about GA versus preview experiences.

Learn more:

• Get started with Microsoft Agent 365 | Microsoft Learn
• Install the Global Secure Access client for Windows | Global Secure Access | Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Agent 365: The Control Plane for Agents 
• Monitor agents with Microsoft Defender | Microsoft Agent 365 | Microsoft Learn
• Protect agent identities with Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Agent 365 | Microsoft Learn
• Start an Agent 365 trial
• Use Microsoft Purview to manage data security & compliance for Microsoft Agent 365 | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]