Hacker News front pageApr 25, 2026, 23:51 UTC+8

What's Missing in the 'Agentic' Story

Mark Nottingham critiques the “AI agent works for you” story and lists 8 trust-misalignment cases online. One example says Microsoft’s new Outlook sends third-party email passwords to its cloud and 700+ data partners. The key issue is delegation boundaries, not model capability alone.

Why it matters: HKR-H/K/R all pass, but this is sourced commentary rather than a model or product release. Mark Nottingham’s Web-protocol authority and HN traction put it at the featured threshold, not P1.

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Take

The weakest part of the agent story is the lazy jump from “acts for the user” to “is loyal to the user.” Nottingham is not scoring model intelligence here. He is asking where delegation stops. His concrete hook is ugly: Microsoft’s new Outlook allegedly sends third-party email passwords to Microsoft’s cloud, with the article pointing to 700-plus data partners. A user thinks they are configuring a client; the platform quietly gains leverage.

Most agent demos still show booking, emailing, and browser control. The permission model looks like old OAuth debt with a nicer UI. OpenAI and Anthropic both push computer-use patterns; once the browser and inbox are attached, the hard problem moves from prompt injection to final authority. I don’t read this as anti-agent. It is a warning that vendors are selling delegation while dodging accountability.

Source: Hacker News front page · mnot.net
Published: Apr 25, 2026, 23:51 UTC+8 · Apr 25, 2026