OpenAI disclosed last week the internal AI tools it uses, a move that sent some software companies into turmoil.
Allan Thygesen, the CEO of Docusign, said he was not particularly worried when he saw the announcement that OpenAI had built an internal contracting tool called DocuGPT. He said he would have preferred a different name for the contracting product, and he felt the demo fell short of Docusign's range. He judged DocuGPT to barely scratch 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.
Executives at rival software vendors flagged questions about overlap with their existing tools, and some customers asked how such prototypes might change vendor choice. Analysts began tracking potential effects on deal cycles and product road maps. Investors watched for shifts in market sentiment, and legal teams flagged questions about data handling and licensing.