Building the Next Generation of Software

To survive and thrive in an AI-first world, Intercom made the deliberate decision to abandon every aspect of how it built software, something the company is well known for. When organisations talk about implementing AI, there’s a temptation to look for the minimum necessary adaptations or to focus on the changes that are the most fun, but that is not even table stakes.

Building real AI products demands rewriting the entire approach to software at a fundamental level. At Intercom, that meant rethinking everything including its processes, speed and roles. For example, software development operated less like a factory and more like a lab, the pace moved faster with timelines and even team sizes cut in half, and roles transformed across the company as designers and product managers became AI coders and builders.

In this talk, Intercom’s Chief Strategy Officer, Des Traynor, details the necessary messy chaos of rebuilding the plane while it’s flying. He’ll explore how this radical shift ultimately led to the creation of Fin, Intercom’s AI Agent for customer service, and what it taught Intercom about building products that can actually win in the AI era.