Mint Explainer: Why Anthropics Claude Cowork plugins rattled IT, SaaS stocks

While Claude isn’t the first to do all of this, it still sent the entire software world into a meltdown over the past few days. In a world awash with technology companies hoping to automate work with generative AI, how did Claude make such a massive splash? Mint explains.

What is Claude Cowork?

Very simply put, Claude Cowork is software that automates various non-technical tasks. This can include sorting through invoices, handling inventories and even maintaining a flow of orders.

Adding to Cowork are a set of 11 sector-specific plugins—productivity, enterprise search, plugin customize, sales, finance, data, legal, marketing, customer support, product management, and biology research. Think of these as experts in their respective fields who can speak in plain human-level English, thanks to Anthropic’s own foundational model, Claude. As a user, you give these experts context and information from your own database, turning them into your own automated workforce.

How are they different?

Unlike software such as Salesforce or SAP, Claude automates multiple software applications in one. For instance, the product management plugin on Claude Cowork can pull insights from your Salesforce interface, unstructured folders containing bills and product information on your laptop, and any other information you provide.

Then, you can fire commands in plain English to resolve customer queries, handle shipments, and check inventories—all from one automated platform. In effect, Claude Cowork is a combination of multiple software platforms and human teams at IT outsourcing firms built into a simple chat interface, making it a potential game-changer for all businesses.

Does Anthropic have rivals for Cowork?

Yes. Microsoft’s Copilot is looking to create an ecosystem of AI tools and plugins that are sector-specific experts and work together to automate tasks and reduce the need for expensive human hires. In December 2024, Google debuted Project Mariner, which wants to do the same. In January 2025, OpenAI showcased Operator on ChatGPT, which is also aiming for the same outcomes.

Peter Thiel-backed Palantir, known for its military-grade surveillance software, also showed legacy data automation earlier this week.

Is the IT crash in India a knee-jerk reaction to Cowork?

Modernizing legacy operations, digitizing and automating processes, and handling outsourced workflows account for much of India’s $283-billion IT sector’s annual revenue. Following Anthropic’s and Palantir’s showcases, foreign investors began selling holdings in Indian IT giants, sparking the landslide. Some of this reaction is premature, as adoption of AI tools isn’t immediate, and may depend on various factors such as data sovereignty and trust.

Case in point: After the American Depository Receipts, or US listings, of Infosys and Wipro crashed 10% and 6% between Tuesday and Wednesday, they also recovered 4% and 2%, respectively, between Wednesday and Thursday.

Where does this leave automation software worldwide?

There is no denying that the likes of Anthropic Claude, Palantir Hivemind, OpenAI Operator, and Google Mariner will change the way businesses use software and outsource technical operations to IT services firms worldwide. Alongside service providers, individual software companies themselves are likely to undergo sea changes.

As a result, shares of ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Adobe, between Monday and Wednesday, dropped 11-13%. SAP’s ADR also dropped 8% this week. However, each of them has recovered 1-6% on Thursday, showing that while generative AI will disrupt them, there would be room for innovation and consolidation in enterprise tools.

Could this lead to job losses?

Yes, and software outsourcers are the likeliest to pay the price. Most companies, including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro, have reduced headcount additions over the past three fiscals. Now, with more levels of mature software automation, businesses may start exploring the idea of having one in-house expert who uses Claude (or any of the other tools) to automate technical back-end operations and digitization of data.

Claude, right now, costs $200 per person per month at most, making it much more affordable than what even the junior-most human professional would cost businesses at the moment.