Software vendors are abandoning their identity as software companies entirely, rebranding themselves as AI enterprises regardless of whether their core offering has fundamentally changed. This rhetorical shift reflects a deeper market reality: investors and customers alike have decided that "software company" signals stagnation whilst "AI company" signals growth potential. The phenomenon accelerates when major players make decisive moves—Salesforce's $3.6bn acquisition of Fin exemplifies this, positioning AI-native customer service capabilities as the future of enterprise CX infrastructure rather than a feature bolted onto existing platforms. For CX teams already embedded in traditional platforms, this creates an uncomfortable question: are you using software that's being retrofitted with AI, or are you falling behind vendors architected from the ground up for agentic workflows?
The rebranding phenomenon masks a genuine competitive divergence. Established vendors like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and HubSpot are integrating AI into mature, feature-rich platforms built on different technical foundations, whilst newer entrants position themselves as purpose-built for autonomous customer interactions. This isn't merely marketing theatre—it reflects different assumptions about what customer service will look like in 18 months. Teams should assess whether their current platform's AI roadmap represents genuine architectural evolution or incremental enhancement. The question isn't whether your vendor uses AI; it's whether your vendor was designed assuming AI would be central to every workflow, or whether AI feels like an add-on to a system optimised for human-driven support.
The market is signalling that software-as-traditionally-understood—packaged, versioned, feature-complete—no longer commands premium valuations. Vendors racing to rebrand as AI companies are betting that customers will accept ongoing uncertainty about product direction in exchange for access to cutting-edge capability. For support leaders evaluating platforms or renewals, this volatility cuts both ways: you gain access to genuinely novel functionality faster, but you also inherit the risk of vendors pivoting their roadmaps based on investor sentiment rather than customer stability. The real test isn't the rebrand itself, but whether your vendor's AI strategy serves your operational reality or their growth narrative.
Software? No Way. We’re an A.I. Company Now! The New York Times
Software? No Way. We’re an A.I. Company Now! nytimes.com