During a recent Tacion Webinar, Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box, shared his thoughts on the rapidly changing world enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS). Specifically, he called attention to the groundbreaking impact artificial intelligence (AI) will have on determining whether our nation’s infrastructure industries flourish or fail. He further stressed the notion that AI agents won’t supplant well-trodden enterprise SaaS firms. Rather, they’ll blaze thrilling new trails of innovation for those agile startups who can take an agent-first approach.
Levie, who has been at the helm of Box since its founding, believes that smaller startups have an advantage over larger companies when it comes to integrating AI into their business processes. He emphasized that these startups don’t have inherited systems to lean on. This flexibility allows them to invent mechanisms that are purpose built for AI agents. This flexibility is both a challenge and an enormous market opportunity for those with the creativity and resolution to push the envelope.
Once you settle on a business process, codifying that process is key, and this means writing business logic. Levie added that it’s important for that to be the case because the chances of a change going through on any given day is extremely close to zero. This lens illuminates the importance of maintaining a bright line between settled practice. Most importantly, though, it reminds us of the unknowable creature that AI-powered agents are destined to be.
Levie raised concerns about the dangers of deploying AI to perform essential business functions. His main point was to emphasize that leaks have already happened, including the first day of the conference. He noted that the inadvertent behavior of AI agents can create significant operational disruption. “If you’re doing something mission critical — we’ve already seen great examples of either data being leaked because of agents or an agent going and, you know, maybe blowing up your database or doing something in production you didn’t expect,” he explained. To avoid this risk, he argues for a clear separation between deterministic and non-deterministic systems.
This current technological disruption can indeed be understood through the lens of what Levie calls a “full platform shift.” He remarked, “We are in this window right now that we have not been in for about fifteen years, which is — there’s a complete platform shift happening in tech that’s opening up a spot for a new set of companies to emerge.” This transition creates a fertile landscape for new entrants into the SaaS market — specifically, for those looking to leverage AI.
Levie likewise pointed to the growing reality of AI-powered agents. “The thing that I’m very convinced of is we’ll have about 100 times more, maybe 1,000 times more, agents than we have people,” he asserted. This radical shift in agent utilization is poised to change the way organizations and individuals engage with the software systems at their disposal.
Sarah Perez, long-time Tech Crunch reporter since August 2011, has been all over this story from the start. Prior to that she spent more than three years sharpening her skills at ReadWriteWeb. In addition, she has lots of IT experience, working in technology for different industries from banking to retail. If you have any questions or would like more information, drop her an email at sarahp@techcrunch.com. You can reach her via encrypted messaging on Signal at sarahperez.01.