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Databricks首席执行官表示,软件即服务(SaaS)并未消亡,但人工智能将很快使其失去重要性。

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Databricks首席执行官表示,软件即服务(SaaS)并未消亡,但人工智能将很快使其失去重要性。

内容来源:https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/09/databricks-ceo-says-saas-isnt-dead-but-ai-will-soon-make-it-irrelevant/

内容总结:

数据智能公司Databricks公布强劲增长,AI产品驱动年化收入达540亿美元

当地时间周一,全球领先的数据智能平台Databricks宣布,其年化收入已达到540亿美元,同比增长65%。其中,超过140亿美元的收入来自其人工智能(AI)产品线,凸显了AI技术对公司业务的强劲驱动力。

公司联合创始人兼首席执行官Ali Ghodsi在接受TechCrunch采访时表示,之所以主动披露这一增长数据,是为了回应业界关于“AI将终结SaaS(软件即服务)业务”的广泛讨论。他指出,对于Databricks而言,AI非但没有构成威胁,反而显著提升了产品使用量。“大家都在讨论‘SaaS的未来会怎样?AI会对这些公司做什么?’但对我们来说,AI只是在增加使用量。”

尽管业务增长迅猛,Ghodsi却有意让公司区别于传统的SaaS标签。当前私募市场更倾向于将Databricks定位为一家AI公司,这对其估值更为有利。同日,公司正式完成了此前宣布的规模高达500亿美元的融资,估值达到1340亿美元,并额外获得了200亿美元的信贷额度。

立足数据根基,以AI界面“Genie”破局

目前,Databricks的核心身份仍是知名的云数据仓库提供商。数据仓库是企业存储并分析海量数据以获取商业洞察的关键基础设施。

Ghodsi特别指出,一款名为“Genie”的大语言模型(LLM)用户界面,是推动其数据仓库使用量增长的关键AI产品。Genie展示了SaaS业务如何用自然语言界面替代传统操作界面。例如,管理者可以直接询问“为何仓库使用量和收入在某几天激增?”而在几年前,完成同样的分析需要编写专业的技术查询语句或定制开发报表。Ghodsi强调,如今任何配备LLM界面的产品都能被非技术人员轻松使用,这正是公司使用量增长的原因之一。

AI并非取代“记录系统”,而是重塑交互方式

Ghodsi澄清了AI对SaaS行业的真正威胁所在。他认为,威胁并非如某些风险投资人所调侃的那样——企业会抛弃Salesforce、ServiceNow、SAP等核心“记录系统”(存储销售、客服、财务等关键业务数据的系统),转而使用自行开发的替代品。“迁移记录系统非常困难,为什么要这么做呢?”

真正的变革在于交互层。AI模型提供商并不打算取代这些记录系统本身,而是致力于用自然语言界面替代传统图形用户界面供人类使用,或提供API及其他插件供AI智能体调用。Ghodsi警告,这意味着传统SaaS企业最大的护城河——全球数百万用户为精通特定产品界面所投入的学习成本——可能面临瓦解。“一旦界面只剩下语言,产品就会像管道一样变得‘隐形’。”

拥抱AI者增长,固守旧模式者承压

Ghodsi认为,积极拥抱LLM新界面的SaaS公司(如Databricks)将获得增长机会。但同时,这也为原生AI竞争者打开了大门,它们可能提供与AI及智能体协同更佳的全新替代方案。

为此,Databricks专门推出了为AI智能体设计的Lakebase数据库。该产品上市仅八个月,其收入已达到公司数据仓库产品同期收入的两倍。“这就像比较两个幼儿,但Lakebase是一个体型大出一倍的幼儿。”Ghodsi用这个比喻说明了新产品的早期增长势头。

手握充足现金,暂无上市计划

在完成巨额融资后,Ghodsi明确表示,公司目前没有立即进行新一轮融资或启动IPO(首次公开募股)的计划。他认为当前并非上市的好时机,并解释道,储备雄厚的资金是为了应对市场可能再次出现如2022年那样的下行风险(当时利率在多年接近零水平后急剧上升)。充足的资金将为公司提供“多年的发展跑道”,增强其抵御市场波动的能力。

中文翻译:

周一,Databricks公司宣布其年化营收已达到540亿美元,同比增长65%,其中超过140亿美元来自人工智能产品。联合创始人兼首席执行官阿里·戈德西向TechCrunch表示,他之所以分享这些增长数据,是因为当前有太多关于"AI将终结SaaS业务"的讨论。

"所有人都在问:'这是SaaS业务,这些公司会怎样?AI会对它们产生什么影响?'对我们而言,AI反而在推动使用量增长。"戈德西说道。值得注意的是,鉴于私募市场将Databricks视为AI公司进行估值,他也希望与"SaaS"标签保持距离。该公司周一还正式完成了此前宣布的50亿美元巨额融资,估值达1340亿美元,并获得了20亿美元的信贷额度。

但这家公司实际上横跨两个领域。Databricks目前仍以云数据仓库供应商闻名,数据仓库是企业存储海量数据以分析商业洞察的平台。戈德西特别指出,其名为Genie的大语言模型用户界面正在有效带动数据仓库的使用量。

Genie展示了SaaS企业如何用自然语言界面替代传统界面。例如,戈德西会直接询问为何特定日期的仓库使用量和营收会激增。他指出,几年前这类查询需要编写特定技术语言的代码或定制专项报告,而现在任何配备大语言模型界面的产品都能被普通人使用。Genie正是公司使用量增长的重要原因之一。

AI对SaaS的威胁并非如某位AI风投戏谑所言——企业会拆除现有SaaS"记录系统"并用自行开发的版本替代。记录系统存储着销售、客户支持或财务等关键业务数据。"为什么要迁移记录系统?这非常困难。"戈德西强调。

模型制造商并未提供存储这些数据的数据库来成为记录系统,而是希望用自然语言界面替代人工操作界面,或通过API及其他插件服务AI智能体。因此戈德西认为,SaaS企业面临的真正威胁在于:人们不再需要花费职业生涯精通特定产品(如Salesforce、ServiceNow或SAP专家)。一旦界面简化为自然语言,产品就会像管道系统般隐于无形。

"全球数百万人曾接受过那些用户界面的培训,这曾是SaaS企业最深的护城河。"戈德西警示道。拥抱大语言模型界面的SaaS企业可能像Databricks那样实现增长,但这也为原生AI竞争者创造了机会,他们能提供更适配AI和智能体的替代方案。

为此Databricks专门开发了面向智能体的Lakebase数据库,目前已初见成效。"该产品上市八个月实现的营收,是数据仓库产品同期营收的两倍。虽然这好比比较幼儿成长,但我们的'新幼儿'确实成长得更快。"戈德西比喻道。

关于最新融资,戈德西透露公司暂无新一轮融资计划,也未筹备IPO。"当前并非上市良机。"他表示,在经历2022年利率从近零水平骤升的市场下行后,公司需要充足资本储备以应对可能再次"转冷"的市场环境。雄厚的资金"将为我们提供多年发展保障"。

英文来源:

On Monday, Databricks announced it reached a $5.4 billion revenue run rate, growing 65% year-over-year, of which more than $1.4 billion was from its AI products.
Co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi wanted to share these growth numbers because there’s so much talk about how AI is going to kill the SaaS business, he told TechCrunch.
“Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, it’s SaaS. What’s going to happen to all these companies? What’s AI going to do with all these companies?’ For us, it’s just increasing the usage,” he said.
To be sure, he also wants to distance Databricks from the SaaS label, given that private markets value it as an AI company. Databricks on Monday also officially closed on its massive, previously announced $5 billion raise at a $134 billion valuation, and nabbed a $2 billion loan facility as well.
But the company is straddling both worlds. Databricks is still best known as a cloud data warehouse provider. A data warehouse is where enterprises store massive amounts of data to analyze for business insights.
Ghodsi called out, in particular, one AI product that’s driving usage of its data warehouse: its LLM user interface named Genie.
Genie is an example of how a SaaS business can replace its user interface with natural language. For instance, he uses it to ask why warehouse usage and revenue spike on particular days.
Just a few years ago, such a request required writing queries in a specific technical language, or having a special report programmed. Today, any product with an LLM interface can be used by anyone, Ghodsi noted. Genie is one reason for the company’s usage growth numbers, he said.
The threat of AI to SaaS isn’t, as one AI VC jokingly tweeted, that enterprises will rip out their SaaS “systems of record” to replace them with vibe-coded homegrown versions. Systems of record store critical business data, whether it’s on sales, customer support, or finance.
“Why would you move your system of record? You know, it’s hard to move it,” Ghodsi said.
The model makers aren’t offering databases to store that data and become systems of record anyway. Instead, they hope to replace the user interface with natural language for human use, or APIs or other plug-ins for AI agents.
So the threat to SaaS businesses, Ghodsi says, is that people no longer spend their careers becoming masters of a particular product: Salesforce specialists, or ServiceNow, or SAP. Once the interface is just language, the products become invisible, like plumbing.
“Millions of people around the world got trained on those user interfaces. And so that was the biggest moat that those businesses have,” Ghodsi warned.
SaaS companies that embrace the new LLM interface could grow, as Databricks is doing. But it also opens up possibilities for AI-native competitors to offer alternatives that work better with AI and agents.
That’s why Databricks created its Lakebase database designed for agents. He’s seeing early traction. “In its eight months that we’ve had it in the market, it’s done twice as much revenue as our data warehouse had when it was eight months old. Okay, obviously, that’s like comparing toddlers,” Ghodsi says. “But this is a toddler that’s twice as big.”
Meanwhile, now that Databricks has closed on its massive funding round, Ghodsi tells us that the company is not immediately working on another raise, nor prepping for an IPO.
“Now is not a great time to go public,” Ghodsi said. “I just wanted to be really well capitalized” should the markets go “south” again as they did in the 2022 downturn, when interest rates rose sharply after years of near-zero rates. A thick bank account “protects us, gives us many, many years of runway,” he added.

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