"Allan Thygesen, the CEO of Docusign, was not particularly concerned when he saw the news last week that OpenAI had created an internal tool called DocuGPT. He might have preferred that OpenAI choose a different name for its contracting tool. But still, he thought, DocuGPT barely scratched the surface of what Docusign can do. "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," he recalls thinking when he saw the announcement."
"Docusign's investors, however, did not appear to agree. The company's stock dropped 12 percent following the news. It wasn't the only software firm to take a hit. In addition to DocuGPT, OpenAI detailed a number of other custom AI programs the company uses, including an AI sales assistant, a customer feedback bot, and an AI support agent. HubSpot shares fell 50 points following the news, while Salesforce saw a smaller decline."
"For leaders like Thygesen, the episode suggests the challenge isn't just keeping up with advances in artificial intelligence, but also staying ahead of the narrative. "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.""
"Docusign's fundamentals, according to Thygesen, are stronger than ever. While the company is known primarily as a platform for signing legally binding contracts, it recently launched an AI-powered platform that helps customers manage every aspect of the contract process, from creating documents to verifying the identities of signatories."
OpenAI published examples of internal tools, including DocuGPT, prompting sharp investor reactions and share-price declines for several enterprise software companies. Docusign's CEO judged DocuGPT as a basic demonstration that did not threaten Docusign's competitive position. Investors interpreted OpenAI's post as a broader competitive signal, affecting stocks such as HubSpot and Salesforce. Analysts noted that market sentiment is currently driven more by narratives than fundamentals. Docusign reported robust fundamentals and launched an AI-powered platform covering contract creation, identity verification, and end-to-end contract management using a mix of in-house tools and AI models.
Read at WIRED
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