OpenAI’s internal AI tools announcement last week triggered significant stock drops for enterprise software companies, despite the tools being relatively basic demonstrations. DocuSign fell 12%, HubSpot dropped 50 points, and Salesforce saw smaller declines after OpenAI revealed custom programs including DocuGPT for contracts, an AI sales assistant, and customer support bots. The market reaction highlights how OpenAI’s influence can reshape investor sentiment even when showcasing simple API-based tools.
The big picture: OpenAI’s power in the current AI market means even routine internal tool demonstrations can be interpreted as competitive threats to established enterprise software providers.
- The company was simply showcasing basic internal tools built on its public API, but investors treated the blog post as a declaration of war against enterprise software companies.
- “This is a market where everything is driven by narratives right now,” says Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets who focuses on tech stocks. “The fundamentals are kind of getting overlooked.”
What they’re saying: Enterprise software leaders downplayed concerns about OpenAI competition while emphasizing their own AI capabilities.
- “This is a fairly obvious demo, and it’s well-known that these things are possible, and it’s not really material to our story or competitive position,” DocuSign CEO Allan Thygesen recalls thinking about DocuGPT.
- “It isn’t us versus them, it’s a partnership,” says Valmik Desai, senior director on the investor relations team at Salesforce. “LLMs are inherently non-deterministic—they can be hard to control without guardrails, without structure, for complex use cases.”
In plain English: Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT are AI systems that generate text but can produce unpredictable results, making them difficult to rely on for complex business processes without proper safeguards and structured frameworks.
Key details: The tools OpenAI revealed included several basic enterprise automation programs used internally.
- DocuGPT handles contracting processes, while other tools include an AI sales assistant, customer feedback bot, and AI support agent.
- DocuSign has recently launched an AI-powered platform managing the entire contract process, from document creation to identity verification, using both in-house tools and third-party AI models including OpenAI’s.
The flip side: OpenAI’s influence can also boost companies it mentions positively, as demonstrated at this week’s developer conference.
- Figma shares jumped 7% after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mentioned the design company during his presentation.
- “When someone’s using ChatGPT, you’ll be able to find an app by asking for it by name,” Altman said, describing how users could ask ChatGPT to “Figma, turn this sketch into a workable diagram.”
Historical context: Similar market overreactions have occurred before, often proving temporary once actual business results emerge.
- Jaluria remembers when Salesforce debuted its own data visualization tool, which some thought signaled the end for Tableau—but Salesforce later acquired Tableau for $15.7 billion.
- “The good news is that good numbers cure all manners of sin, and all it takes is just a couple quarters to kind of disprove those sorts of narrative,” Jaluria says.
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