AI inside the tools, and the agents meant to run them

What we're tracking

• •When a suite adds AI to what it already had There are two ways a software company puts AI into its products. It can build new applications that are AI-native from the first line of code, or it can add AI to applications that already exist and already have customers. The second path is harder than it sounds. An older application was designed around a particular way of working, and bolting a new capability onto it means the new capability has to fit the old shape rather than the other way round.
• •Payroll that a software agent is meant to run The second announcement moves the idea one step further. It is no longer only about AI living inside an application. It is about an AI agent operating the application on your behalf.
• •The plumbing beneath your tools The third announcement is the one a business is most tempted to skip, because it sits a layer below anything you log into. It still deserves a moment.
• •What ties the day together Read together, the three stories trace a single line. AI is being added to the applications you already use, it is being given the ability to operate some of them for you, and the ground those applications stand on is consolidating. For a business choosing tools, the response to all three is the same discipline rather than three different ones.