OpenAI and Anthropic are hiring key talent from the established enterprise software industry in quick succession, spreading artificial intelligence competition beyond products and into the talent market.

On April 26, blockchain outlet Cryptopolitan reported that OpenAI is actively drawing in staff who handled enterprise sales and customer support at Salesforce and Palantir Technologies, among others.

A leading example is Denis Dresser (데니스 드레서). The former chief executive of Slack at Salesforce now serves as OpenAI’s chief revenue officer. Jennifer Mazlesi (제니퍼 마즐레시), also a former Salesforce executive, recently joined OpenAI to lead its market push. She said she joined because of “belief in the product,” stressing the practical usefulness of AI technology.

Anthropic is also reported to have hired talent from Salesforce. OpenAI is also said to be quietly recruiting Palantir’s forward-deployed engineers. The role is a field-based position that converts customers’ business processes into software and requires high expertise in the enterprise market.

The trend shows that the focus of the AI industry’s talent competition is shifting. Securing research staff used to be key, but “sales and execution” personnel who can win large corporate customers and convert existing business relationships into AI services are now becoming more important.

Changes in OpenAI’s business structure also support that view. Chief financial officer Sarah Friar said enterprise customers account for up to 40 percent of the business as of early this year and could expand to around 50 percent by year-end. OpenAI has already secured 1 million enterprise customers.

The market is interpreting the moves as a signal of pressure on the existing software industry. Amid concerns about the spread of AI, shares of traditional software companies have been weak, and investors are showing a trend of cutting their exposure to related stocks.

A bigger variable is OpenAI’s business direction. OpenAI is strengthening a strategy aimed at replacing existing software, beyond simple competition. Examples include the autonomous agent system “Frontier” and “Operator,” which handles tasks across multiple applications.

It also launched the “Frontier Alliance” with McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Accenture, and presented a plan to shift large companies’ work toward AI agent-centred operations.

Existing enterprise companies are also moving to defend themselves. ServiceNow, Palantir and CrowdStrike, among others, are pushing back by saying AI agents are difficult to run without their infrastructure and governance, while stressing their competitiveness.

The job market is also changing. Oracle began layoffs of thousands as it shifts resources to AI cloud, while Meta and Microsoft have also recently moved to reduce headcount.

Ultimately, AI companies’ absorption of talent is being interpreted as a signal of where leadership in the enterprise software market is moving, beyond a simple job-hopping trend. An analysis is emerging that AI has entered a stage of reshaping not only product competition but also organisational and workforce structures.