OpenAI Makes a Move, and Software Companies Feel the Impact

Allan Thygesen, the CEO of Docusign, wasn’t overly worried when he learned about OpenAI’s new internal tool named DocuGPT last week. While he might have preferred a different title for OpenAI’s contracting solution, he felt that DocuGPT only skimmed the surface of Docusign’s 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,” he thought upon seeing the announcement.

However, Docusign’s investors seemed to think differently, leading the company’s stock to plunge by 12 percent after the news broke. Docusign wasn’t the sole software company affected; alongside DocuGPT, OpenAI revealed several other custom AI applications, including an AI sales assistant, a customer feedback bot, and an AI support agent. HubSpot shares dropped by 50 points, while Salesforce experienced a slight decline.

This situation highlights OpenAI’s influence in today’s market. Although the company was simply presenting fairly basic internal tools built on its public API, many interpreted its blog post as a challenge to enterprise software providers. For executives like Thygesen, this episode illustrates that the challenge lies not only in keeping pace with AI advancements but also in managing the surrounding narrative.

“This is a market where everything is driven by narratives right now,” notes Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets focusing on tech stocks. “The fundamentals are kind of getting overlooked.”

According to Thygesen, Docusign’s fundamentals are now stronger than ever. While the company is primarily recognized for its legally binding contract signing platform, it recently introduced an AI-enhanced platform that assists customers in managing all aspects of the contract process—from document creation to identity verification of signatories. Docusign employs a combination of in-house tools and AI models from third-party providers, including OpenAI.

Though Docusign’s stock price has seen fluctuations this year, Thygesen remains optimistic. “I’m feeling very bullish about the future of Docusign and what AI in particular has done for us,” he states.