The Information · Tech & AI
TIER 4 Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:33:35 +0000
OpenAI can hardly announce a new product before a chorus of tech pundits declare it will kill a bunch of other applications. In the most recent example, investors in several public software companies went into a panic last week after OpenAI showed a demo of an internal artificial intelligence tool it developed to analyze contracts. The internal tool, DocuGPT, isn’t a standalone product that OpenAI plans to sell but rather aims to demonstrate how ChatGPT can quickly code simple applications that are useful to enterprises, the company said in a blog post. The post also showcased how OpenAI used new features in ChatGPT to automate tasks like drafting sales messages to customers and collecting customer feedback. The mere publication of OpenAI’s blog post about DocuGPT led to a selloff in the stocks of DocuSign, HubSpot, and Salesforce last week. | | | | Oct 9, 2025 ---|--- | # Applied AI --- | | By Aaron Holmes ---|--- | | | | Supported by | ---|--- | | _Hi! If you’re finding value in our Applied AI newsletter, I encourage you to consider subscribing to The Information. It contains exclusive reporting on the most important stories in tech, like this story from Sylvia on_how tech giants are navigating the Trump administration's demands _.Save up to $250 on your first year of access._ * * * Welcome back!OpenAI can hardly announce a new product before a chorus of tech pundits declare it will kill a bunch of other applications. In the most recent example, investors in several public software companies went into a panic last week after OpenAI showed a demo of an internal artificial intelligence tool it developed to analyze contracts. The internal tool, DocuGPT, isn’t a standalone product that OpenAI plans to sell but rather aims to demonstrate how ChatGPT can quickly code simple applications that are useful to enterprises, the company said in a blog post. The post also showcased how OpenAI used new features in ChatGPT to automate tasks like drafting sales messages to customers and collecting customer feedback.The mere publication of OpenAI’s blog post about DocuGPT led to a selloff in the stocks of DocuSign, HubSpot, and Salesforce last week.After DocuSign shares fell roughly 17% in the days following OpenAI’s blog post, DocuSign CEO Allan Thygesen told Wired the demo was “not really material to our story or competitive position.” DocuSign’s core business is letting people sign legally binding documents, whereas OpenAI demonstrated tools that analyze signed contracts, though it’s possible onlookers imagined OpenAI’s technology could whip up a DocuSign-like product in no time.Thygesen also said his company has been adding its own AI features to automate the creation and summarizing of contracts. DocuSign CTO Sagnik Nandy said in a separate post this week that the company’s trove of millions of documents also give it a “massive data advantage” at training customized AI models.That may be, but DocuSign shares have not recovered since the drop last week. It also may not help that DocuSign has been the occasional butt of jokes on X (and also when the service was still called Twitter) because it has nearly 7,000 employees—a number that plenty of posters have said seems high.Zapier CEO Wade Foster found himself in a similar situation Monday after OpenAI released Agent Builder, which lets companies set up multi-step automations using its AI models and seems like it would hurt Zapier’s competing automation software.“I checked my pulse this morning and I’m still alive,” Foster said wryly when he picked up my call Tuesday morning, before explaining the reasons he wasn’t too concerned.Perhaps Foster is lucky his company is privately held (and has raised almost no venture capital). The volatility in public software stocks, on the other hand, shows investors are anxious about the prospect of AI replacing old apps that have had incredible profit margins. That threat hasn’t materialized yet, as developers have found AI isn’t reliable enough at writing code to create entire functioning enterprise applications. And what makes it difficult to move off Salesforce, for instance, are the layers of customized code, known as workflows, that companies continually add and update in Salesforce to track everything from product catalogs to pricing to customer commitments.Still, OpenAI, xAI and Anthropic increasingly say that their models are up to the task, suggesting it’s just a matter of time before the revolution arrives.**Google Follows OpenAI in Agents** Automated agents that handle complex tasks haven’t really taken off yet, in part because they are hard to configure. This week, both OpenAI and Google took a new swipe at the problem.Google on Thursday launched Gemini Enterprise, which is designed for people to develop agents without knowing how to code. Unlike OpenAI’s new Agent Builder tool, which the startup announced Monday, Gemini Enterprise also includes access to some pre-built agents for research tasks and coding help. (OpenAI has some templates for building common agents.)Gemini Enterprise also seems to be positioned more for automating internal corporate tasks, such as speeding up marketing, than for developing public-facing applications. In a demonstration, Google showed how a marketing campaign agent could do research for a Halloween costume product and recommend additional inventory to buy.Gemini Enterprise costs $30 per seat per month, with a cheaper version aimed at startups and small businesses rolling out “in the coming weeks” at $20 per seat per month. OpenAI’s Agent Builder, in contrast, is offered through an application programming interface, according to OpenAI’s blog post. | | A message from Google Cloud --- ### Prompt like a pro: Learn how in under 10 minutes. Learn a simple framework to craft clear prompts that get better, faster results from Gemini in Google Workspace. You'll discover how to use natural language, be specific, and iterate for optimal AI assistance. **Ready to prompt like a pro?** ## Upcoming Events #### Tuesday, October 28 – Wednesday, October 29 — The Information’s 2025 WTF Summit The rules are changing, fast. AI, volatile markets, and political uncertainty are reshaping business. Join the boldest women at The Information’s WTF 2025 Summit in Napa Valley. Limited tickets remain. More details | --- _Thank you for reading the Applied AI newsletter! 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