Microsoft debuts Project Opal to run Copilot tasks in a Cloud PC

Microsoft is putting a new agent behind Microsoft 365 Copilot that runs jobs on its own inside a disposable cloud desktop. In a Nov. 18, 2025 post on the Microsoft 365 Copilot Blog, Microsoft's Amber Waisanen introduced Project Opal as "a new AI-powered capability that executes task-based work inside a secure, observable environment you control."

Each Opal job runs on a dedicated Windows 365 Cloud PC that is Entra-joined and Intune-enrolled, with the agent driving Microsoft Edge to click through workflows. A separate supervisor sits alongside the reasoning model as an independent check, and an allow-list blocks non-approved domains.

The pitch leans on Microsoft's own dogfood number: "At Microsoft, engineers have saved up to 20 hours per week on audit tasks by delegating these steps to Project Opal." Compliance evidence collection, secure group-membership approvals, timesheet and leave requests, and onboarding checklists (down to device ordering and system access) are the early preview examples.

Access is through the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers. Opal is opt-in and off by default; an admin has to enable it, and "no screenshots are saved when the user is in control." Waisanen closes with a caveat: "It's early and will change substantially - that's by design."