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Some copywriter at Microsoft is getting a real stern talking to.<\/p>\n
In an internal document obtained by 404 Media<\/a>, the tech giant let slip that it wants to \u201cmake people addicted\u201d to its new personal assistant AI agent, Scout \u2014 an alarming admission, given that AI companies have tirelessly fought against the criticism that they design their models to be as engaging as possible, to the point of being psychologically harmful and fueling mental health crises<\/a>.<\/p>\n The document, which outlines Microsoft\u2019s plan to embed a more mainstream and accessible version of OpenClaw AI agents in its Microsoft 365 software suite, describes \u201cthree phases\u201d to its approach. The first: \u201cMake people addicted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cContinue 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,\u201d the document states.<\/p>\n Anonymous Microsoft employees who spoke to 404 were mixed on the language. One called its explicit references to addiction \u201cvery troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing more and more addiction happening with AI chatbots and agents and overall addiction to me is something no product should be making a part of its build strategy,\u201d they said. \u201cIt feels like one of those \u2018saying the quiet part out loud\u2019 moments in the document.\u201d<\/p>\n But another countered, rationalizing that \u201cisn\u2019t the end goal of all software made by all major technology companies to be addicting?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily for us,\u201d they japed, \u201cMicrosoft is pretty bad at making addicting products compared to some of the other big companies.\u201d<\/p>\n If Microsoft\u2019s goal is to indeed make its AI addictive, the first people getting hooked are from its own workforce, with the document claiming that more than 1,000 employees, including CEO Satya Nadella, are using the new tool.<\/p>\n \u201cClawPilot has organically grown into one of the most requested internal tools at Microsoft. No formal announcement, no marketing, no org-wide push,\u201d it states. (After reading that sludgy prose, you probably won\u2019t be surprised to hear that the document was \u201cco-created\u201d with AI, the document notes.)<\/p>\n Addiction has become one of those scary words in the AI industry. Because AI chatbots and other tools communicate in natural, conversational language \u2014 with an extra infusion of sycophancy throughout\u2014 users can become unhealthily attached to them, and the question becomes whether the companies building them are knowingly playing into this to drive engagement despite the cognitive and mental health risks. For Microsoft to outright claim addiction is its endgame is at best tone deaf, and at worst dangerously cynical.<\/p>\n