Some on Wall Street have been worried that artificial-intelligence adoption will come at the expense of traditional software. But strong moves in Figma Inc. and certain other technology stocks on Monday suggest the two can coexist.

OpenAI announced Apps SDK during its developer day event on Monday, allowing developers to build apps in the chatbot that can be used by other ChatGPT users. The software-developer kit is now available in preview, and was built on an open-standard protocol that allows developers to build between data sources, tools and AI applications such as ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.

Chief Executive Sam Altman demonstrated how a user can ask ChatGPT to use Figma, a collaborative design platform, to turn a user’s sketch of a product in ChatGPT into a working diagram. He also showed how ChatGPT can suggest a specific app for a request, such as Spotify if a user wants to make a playlist.

Spotify Technology SA and other launch partners such as Coursera Inc. and Expedia Group Inc. saw their shares rise after the announcement. However, the stocks of Booking Holdings Inc. and Zillow Group Inc. were down despite their involvement in the launch.

Figma’s stock was a notable gainer, rising as much as 16.4% before settling to a 7.4% gain at the close.

Altman said that the company plans to roll out more app integrations with partners including DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. in the coming weeks. OpenAI is also planning to allow developers to monetize their apps, he said.

Going into the developer day, Wedbush analysts led by Scott Devitt said in a Monday note that 「investors were largely watching for a potential announcement that could prove to be disruptive to the online travel sector, either from a consumer use case or commercialization standpoint.」

But OpenAI instead showed that it can be a partner to those businesses, the analysts said.

The rise of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools and applications have led some on Wall Street to see doom for the software-as-a-service sector, whose offerings, they argue, can be replaced by the more advanced technology.

But CFRA Research analyst Janice Quek said in a thematic note last month that she thinks those 「fears are exaggerated,」 and that the 「value proposition of leading software vendors is more than the sum of their solutions.」 Quek pointed out that traditional software companies are making efforts to close the technology gap, and are building their own AI products, 「eroding some of the benefits and advantages from these AI companies.」

Despite the competitive edge that AI poses to current software offerings, Quek said that her team continues 「to see evidence that demand remains healthy for software vendors, and many are in fact benefitting from their growing range of AI solutions.」

Additionally, the remaining performance obligations, or contracted agreements that have yet to be recognized as revenue, at major SaaS vendors under CFRA’s coverage 「have been steadily increasing,」 Quek said, due to enterprises consolidating tools to improve integration and performance, and to prepare for AI implementation.

Meanwhile, Mizuho analysts said in a Monday note that they see the ChatGPT announcement as a negative 「for the open web broadly, and Google specifically.」

The chatbot is already a threat to search and app stores, the analysts said, and 「if more and more user activity sits inside ChatGPT making calls to apps inside of it, it risks relegating many existing apps more to commodities (directionally).」

The Mizuho team said the app integration could see travel companies such as Booking.com and Expedia reach more consumers through the chatbot 「with, at least initially, limited customer-acquisition cost,」 for now.

But as developers get apps approved for use through ChatGPT later this year, there could be 「some adoption risk as OpenAI looks to remake user behavior from well-worn paths,」 the analysts said.