The two-decade reign of the seat-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) model is facing a major threat from AI agents—and software stocks are already feeling the pain. 

CRM stock is slipping. See the chart and price action here. 

For years, giants like Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) and ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) grew by building walled gardens of complex software interfaces designed for human interaction. 

Customers paid for a software license, logged in and manually moved data.

The rise of Anthropic's Claude Cowork, OpenAI's autonomous Codex agents, and upcoming Operator are making the per-license metric less relevant. 

When a single AI agent can orchestrate pipelines and execute outreach across platforms, the need for 500 individual CRM licenses evaporates.

In what feels to some like a science fiction novel, people are experimenting with agents like Clawdbot, Moltbot and now Openbot, open-source personal AI agents that run ...