Snowflake launches new AI platform
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Snowflake, the cloud-based data platform, is rolling out a new autonomous AI platform on Wednesday that will enable users to quickly access enterprise data and execute business functions.
Why it matters: The product launch shows how enterprise software companies are aggressively responding to a workplace reshaped by AI.
How it works: The new platform, Project SnowWork, essentially provides the "last mile" connecting enterprise data and work systems through AI agents on behalf of employees in sales, finance, operations, HR and other teams.
- A user could ask SnowWork to build a pitch deck, and the platform would pull data from multiple sources, organize it, and draft an accompanying email — no coding needed, CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy tells Axios.
- And these "end-to-end" workflows can be automated through SnowWork.
Zoom in: Snowflake says it's just starting to offer a limited set of customers a research preview of SnowWork.
- It's different than other AI agents that typically function via documents, emails or online content, because it "is grounded in governed enterprise data and context that is embedded directly within the Snowflake platform," the company said in a statement.
- "AI models can be very powerful orchestrators of work," Ramaswamy says.
Zoom out: Snowflake was among the software companies whose stock prices got ensnared in a selloff earlier this year amid fears that AI could devastate such businesses — the so-called SaaS-pocalypse.
- Yet Snowflake had already made a push into AI, offering users access to large language models in 2023.
- Last year, the company introduced Snowflake Intelligence, an AI interface that allows users to ask questions of their enterprise data and gain insights into their business. Project SnowWork will build on that.
- Snowflake says that 9,100 accounts are now using its AI products, as of the end of February. The company has 13,300 customers.
