Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella rejects internal proposal to make AI agent Scout deliberately addictive

Nadella sent a message to about 50 top engineers stating that making users 'addicted' to Scout is 'absolutely not a goal,' and criticized the memo proposing this approach as 'nonsense,' according to The Information.

The memo came from Corporate Vice President Omar Shahine and outlined a three-phase plan from addictive app to agentic platform. Scout is built on the open-source software OpenClaw and was unveiled at Microsoft's Build conference.

Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw stated that Scout should help people get tasks done more effectively and ultimately lead to less screen time, with users having choice and control over how they interact with the agent.