Embracing the AI-First Revolution at Intercom

At the WeAreDevelopers conference in Berlin in 2025, we listened to Paul Adams, CTO at Intercom, present AI as the greatest technological shift since the early internet. Drawing on his expertise in product design, UX and social software—honed at Facebook, Google and Dyson—Adams argued that AI requires a fundamental reimagining of business strategy, software development, organizational structures and marketing approaches. This article now brings those key insights, highlighting the need for a dynamic, experimental mindset to navigate an uncertain, rapidly evolving landscape.

The Technology S‑Curve and Societal Impact

Adams illustrates that major innovations follow an S‑curve: a breakthrough invention, slow initial adoption, clear value realization and eventual plateau. Historical examples—the PC, the internet, the cloud and mobile—spawned vast companies and reshaped society. He cites the combustion engine, whose invention led not only to cars but to suburbia, shopping malls and even McDonald’s. According to Adams, "AI is bigger than most people even imagine," and belongs to this lineage of transformative curves, still in its infancy—akin to 1999 for the internet. Its second‑ and third‑order effects “do work” at societal scale, promising changes beyond today’s comprehension.

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Embracing an AI‑First Transformation

Intercom “bet the entire company on AI,” reallocating 80 percent of its engineering resources to AI initiatives like Fin. This shift abandoned long‑term (6–18 month) roadmaps in favor of rapid, 3–6 month cycles—embracing controlled chaos. Adams insists that "AI first, but it's got to be built in, you can't bolt it on." He emphasizes the need to "reimagine your business from a blank page," rethinking product, pricing, branding and sales as an integrated system. A daring website redesign signaled the company’s new identity, echoing Southwest Airlines’ low‑cost, rapid‑turnaround model: a system of mutually reinforcing activities that transformed air travel.
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Blurring Roles and “Building to Think”

AI’s converging power dismantles traditional role boundaries among product managers, designers and engineers. Adams describes a “building to think” philosophy: rapid prototyping with AI tools precedes exhaustive documentation. Designers now ship production code; engineers and PMs overlap responsibilities. He highlights tools like Cursor, Lovable, Replit and Bolt that accelerate ideation. In this era, many conventional UX practices—personas, story points—become relics, replaced by constant experimentation: "If it works, let's keep going, it will expand it. If it doesn't work, kill it, start again." Adams adds, "We prefer they try and make mistakes than not try."

Reimagining Organizational and Marketing Structures

To match AI’s speed, Intercom replaced hierarchical “triads” (PM, design, engineering) with agile workstreams: small, multidisciplinary teams led by a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) and focused on clear outcomes. These workstreams form and disband around defined goals, guided by customer feedback and empowered to choose “whatever works.” This model delivered Intercom’s fastest‑growing product and largest revenue quarter.

Marketing, too, shed polished, campaign‑driven approaches in favor of “builder” experimentation. The speaker argues against year‑long calendars and Hollywood‑style demos, advocating multiple concurrent themes, public prototypes and unpolished content that builds authenticity. He asserts that "AI doesn't just help you do work, AI does work," so marketing must mirror product’s pace: always on, always evolving.

Competing in the AI Era

Unlike past sectors—SaaS, e‑commerce—with clear competitors, the AI landscape is chaotic. Adams compares it to 1999: winners are not yet founded, and adjacent threats can emerge unexpectedly. Incumbents must “rip up everything” and move at startup speed to survive. He warns that legacy processes and internal politics hamstring agility, while AI‑native entrants are “wonderfully naive.” The only strategy with a fighting chance is radical reinvention—betting the company on AI and embracing perpetual experimentation.

Conclusion

Adams challenges organizations to think big, embrace uncertainty and reshape every aspect of their operations around AI. By adopting an AI‑first mindset—from rapid prototyping and fluid teams to authentic marketing and fearless competition—companies can navigate this defining S‑curve and unlock profound societal impact.

WeAreDevelopers, held annually in Berlin, convenes thousands of software engineers, tech leads and industry innovators to dive into the latest in development and emerging technologies. Our team was on the ground in 2025, and we’ll be sharing even more insights from the event on our blog and LinkedIn profile in the days ahead.