Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach: AI Is a Tailwind for Software in 2026
Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach tells CNBC that fears of AI destroying software are 'overblown.' He explains why the company is positioned to be an AI winner in 2026.
Is AI really destroying the software industry? Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach doesn't think so. Speaking on CNBC's "Squawk Box," he dismissed the narrative of AI-driven destruction as "overblown," asserting that the technology is actually a tailwind for the sector.
Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach AI Software Outlook 2026: Fear vs. Reality
The market's anxiety is palpable in the stock charts. Workday shares dropped 17% in 2025 and have tumbled another 15% since the start of 2026. The carnage isn't isolated; HubSpot plummeted more than 40% last year, while giants like Adobe and Salesforce each lost 21%. Investors fear that AI models capable of writing cheap code will displace the recurring revenue models that have defined the SaaS era.
Leveraging First-Party Data for AI Dominance
Eschenbach argues that incumbency is a massive advantage. Businesses are leaning on Workday for its first-party data, which provides a moat against third-party AI tools. To stay ahead, Workday cut 1,750 jobs last year to pivot resources toward AI. Meanwhile, ServiceNow just inked a three-year deal with OpenAI to bolster its own enterprise offerings. "We are uniquely positioned to be one of the AI winners," Eschenbach noted from the World Economic Forum in Davos.
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