As AI evolves, various people have recently weighed in on the narrative that the position of enterprise software companies could be shaken.

Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy (스리다르 라마스와미), who can be seen as a stakeholder in AI-driven threats, warned that if companies do not respond properly, enterprise software vendors could be reduced to simple “data pipes.”

Techzine reported that in Ramaswamy’s view, AI model developers are pursuing a world where they can easily access all data.

In such an environment, applications that use data could become a burden. It argues there is no reason to use existing software if, instead of AI assistants embedded in ERP or CRM platforms, companies can directly access the same data through central intelligence.

Snowflake is focusing on positioning itself as a key partner for the AI camp as a central data platform. Snowflake recently signed a $200 million partnership with OpenAI. Under the deal, OpenAI models such as GPT-5.2 will run directly inside Snowflake’s AI app development platform, Cortex AI. The company said it is a strategic choice to avoid being reduced to a simple data conduit.

Ramaswamy said customers should be allowed to choose to query a central AI directly and ignore existing enterprise apps.

Techzine reported that this means software vendors must either provide what customers want or make their offerings so compelling that they are not even compared with alternatives.

In response to recent AI-driven threats, existing software companies counter that “companies cannot simply replace their existing business suites with AI.” They say processes and policies are already built around the current IT stack, and the burden of migrating not only data but the entire daily work of a company is large.

Earlier, Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi (알리 고드시), whose company competes with Snowflake in the data platform market, said AI is not replacing SaaS but is instead increasing usage. He said Databricks is seeing a surge in database use through Genie, a generative AI interface.

Responding to concerns that existing SaaS systems will be replaced by AI, Ghodsi said, “The key is not replacing systems of record, but shifting the user interface to natural language.”