So spraying Windows with the assistant, regardless of how users felt about it, was somehow an accident?

Probably more that internal politics at the company lead a bunch of project leads to try implementing it. If leadership keeps emphasizing how important AI is, and people who have “done stuff with AI” keep getting promoted, then of course people are going to shove it anywhere they can, and of course the higher ups will approve it. It’s classic group/cult think in a hierarchical system.