Satya Nadella ‘Not Sure’ Who Said Microsoft Wanted to Make Addictive AI, Is Looking for Guy Who Did This

Key Points:

• An internal Microsoft strategy document revealed plans to “make people addicted” to its new AI assistant, Scout, authored by Microsoft executives Omar Shahine and Jakob Werner alongside an AI writing tool.
• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella publicly denied knowledge of the document and its contents, calling it “nonsense” and distancing the company from the addiction language despite the document’s clear attribution to senior executives.
• Omar Shahine, Corporate Vice President leading the Scout project, is openly credited as the document’s author and the product’s originator, contradicting Nadella’s apparent unfamiliarity with the strategy.
• Microsoft declined to directly address concerns about the addiction language when approached by journalists, instead providing only public-facing product announcements and later criticizing the reporting to other media outlets.
• The incident highlights tensions in how large tech companies respond to internal disclosures and media scrutiny, with Nadella’s comments suggesting either a disconnect within Microsoft or an attempt to manage public perception.