{"slug": "satya-nadella-not-sure-who-said-microsoft-wanted-to-make-addictive-ai-is-looking", "title": "Satya Nadella ‘Not Sure’ Who Said Microsoft Wanted to Make Addictive AI, Is Looking for Guy Who Did This", "summary": "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told staff Thursday he was \"not sure what this document is or who is writing and leaking this nonsense\" after an internal strategy document revealed the company aimed to \"make people addicted\" to its new AI assistant, Scout. The document, obtained and reported by 404 Media, was authored by Microsoft executives Omar Shahine and Jakob Werner, with Shahine serving as the Corporate Vice President leading the Scout project. Nadella's denial of the document's contents raises questions about his awareness of high-profile product strategies within his own company.", "body_md": "On Tuesday, [ we published an article](https://www.404media.co/microsoft-wants-to-make-people-addicted-to-scout-its-new-ai-assistant-internal-documents-reveal/) about an internal Microsoft strategy document that explained the company wanted to “make people addicted” to its new AI assistant, Scout. Thursday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told staff that he was “not sure what this document is or who is writing and leaking this nonsense,” according to a message\n\n[.](https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive-nadella-rebukes-microsoft-executives-plan-make-users-addicted-ai-agents/?ref=404media.co)\n\n__obtained by The Information__The document we reported on was not some random document. As we wrote at the time, the strategy document was written by Microsoft executives Omar Shahine, Jakob Werner, and some sort of AI writing tool. [ This information is in our original article](https://www.404media.co/microsoft-wants-to-make-people-addicted-to-scout-its-new-ai-assistant-internal-documents-reveal/) and is readily available to Nadella. We wrote: “The document seen by 404 Media lists Shahine and another executive, Jakob Werner, as its authors. The document itself, however, notes that it was ‘co-created turn-by-turn with AI. Human verified every sentence.’”\n\nShahine is the leader of Microsoft’s Scout project, as he has written numerous times on his own blog, on his LinkedIn, and on [ Microsoft’s own announcement of the software](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/06/02/introducing-microsoft-scout-your-always-on-personal-agent/?ref=404media.co). In attempting to distance himself from his own company’s executives and strategy documents, Nadella has revealed that he either does not know how to read or does not know what is happening with some of the company’s highest-profile products.\n\nPhase one of the company’s launch plan for Scout, which was previously called ClawPilot internally, was to “make people addicted. Continue shipping the standalone ClawPilot experience. Pilot the UX, grow the user base, and build the skill and tool ecosystem that makes people depend on it daily. This is already happening organically.”\n\nIn Nadella’s message to [ staff reported by The Information Thursday](https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive-nadella-rebukes-microsoft-executives-plan-make-users-addicted-ai-agents/?ref=404media.co), he wrote “this is absolutely a non goal! If anything we are doing the exact opposite. We want to make sure AI empowers and adds real value to human endeavor and broad economic growth! We should make sure that our teams are clear about this. Not sure what this document is or who is writing and leaking this nonsense! They may want to go work elsewhere…..” Nadella then linked to an aggregation of our article published by Futurism.\n\nAs mentioned, the document was written by Shahine. Shahine is not some random Microsoft employee, he is the person who imagined, pitched, and brought Scout to fruition, as he has tirelessly documented over and over and over again in [ many](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/project-lobster-microsoft-scout-omar-shahine-o5bae/?ref=404media.co),\n\n__many____LinkedIn__\n\n[and on](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/omarshahine_two-weeks-ago-i-wrote-about-how-a-personal-activity-7452744042968154113-W_iY?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAALnRp8BXujFE79LRWWbra2cJAe9hT9ZWpg)\n\n__posts__[. His job title is “Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Scout,” and he is the person who announced the product on Microsoft’s official blog.](https://www.omarknows.ai/p/lobster-got-hired?ref=404media.co)\n\n__his personal blog__[is “Omar Shahine is a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft where he leads Microsoft Scout.” Again, Shahine’s name is listed as the author at the top of the document we reported on.](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/author/omar-shahine/?ref=404media.co)\n\n__His biography on Microsoft’s website__Nadella’s message and a statement given by Microsoft to The Information by a spokesperson are instructive in showing in the ways that big tech deals with journalists who deign to write articles that the companies would rather not exist. A Microsoft spokesperson told The Information Scout is for “helping people accomplish tasks more effectively—not encouraging dependency. Our goal isn’t more screen time. It’s more time back.” Microsoft did not say this to us; Microsoft said nothing to us.\n\nBefore we published this article, as we do with almost every article that mentions any company, we reached out to Microsoft for comment. We specifically said that we were writing an article about the “make people addicted” language and asked for comment, context, and more information about that language. Microsoft did not answer our questions, ignored the fact that we asked about “addiction,” and simply sent us a link to its public announcement for Scout. The company then attacked our report internally and externally to another media outlet.\n\nIf Nadella is Looking For the Guy Who Did This, maybe he should read the documents his own company produces, or ask the guy who made it.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/satya-nadella-not-sure-who-said-microsoft-wanted-to-make-addictive-ai-is-looking", "canonical_source": "https://www.404media.co/satya-nadella-not-sure-who-said-microsoft-wanted-to-make-addictive-ai-is-looking-for-guy-who-did-this/", "published_at": "2026-06-04 22:03:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-04 22:41:07.675900+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-ethics", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["Satya Nadella", "Microsoft", "Scout", "Omar Shahine", "Jakob Werner", "404 Media", "The Information"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/satya-nadella-not-sure-who-said-microsoft-wanted-to-make-addictive-ai-is-looking", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/satya-nadella-not-sure-who-said-microsoft-wanted-to-make-addictive-ai-is-looking.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/satya-nadella-not-sure-who-said-microsoft-wanted-to-make-addictive-ai-is-looking.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/satya-nadella-not-sure-who-said-microsoft-wanted-to-make-addictive-ai-is-looking.jsonld"}}