Vertical AI — Issue 18

Vertical Competitive Read

Shopify Lets Shoppers' Agents Check Out, and Brand Agents Lose the Pre-Purchase Conversation

By Reva Sandoval— October 30, 2026

Merchants pay Siena, Gorgias, Intercom Fin and Sierra to run selling agents in web chat and social DMs. Shopify's Fall '26 developer release, out October 28, lets the shopper's own agent search a store, build a cart and check out instead, with the shopper approving. That agent never has to talk to the brand's, and all four vendors bill usage by conversation or contracted outcome.

The merchant still carries refunds and chargebacks, and holds the least evidence of what the shopper agreed to.

Vertical Competitive Read

Shopify Lets Shoppers' Agents Check Out, and Brand Agents Lose the Pre-Purchase Conversation

By Reva Sandoval— October 30, 2026

Merchants pay Siena, Gorgias, Intercom Fin and Sierra to run selling agents in web chat and social DMs. Shopify's Fall '26 developer release, out October 28, lets the shopper's own agent search a store, build a cart and check out instead, with the shopper approving. That agent never has to talk to the brand's, and all four vendors bill usage by conversation or contracted outcome.

The merchant still carries refunds and chargebacks, and holds the least evidence of what the shopper agreed to.

Company Map

Sort Legal AI by the Data Each Company Controls

Every major legal AI vendor now sells an agent that breaks legal work into steps and picks a model for each one. Since everyone ships it, the agent tells you little. Look at the data each company controls outright. That data predicts both the moat and the buyer.

Four assets cover the field. Public law is case law and statutes, plus the editorial tagging that makes them searchable. Case evidence is the documents gathered for one lawsuit. Firm operations is billing, intake and scheduling. Firm knowledge is a firm's own past briefs, contracts and memos.

The first three have clear owners, mapped at right. Firm knowledge is still contested. Harvey bought Aida to reach it. But those files already sit in NetDocuments and iManage, along with the rules on who may open them, so Harvey works inside permissions it doesn't set.

When you assess a company here, separate what it owns from what it reaches through a connector.

Company Map

Sort Legal AI by the Data Each Company Controls

Every major legal AI vendor now sells an agent that breaks legal work into steps and picks a model for each one. Since everyone ships it, the agent tells you little. Look at the data each company controls outright. That data predicts both the moat and the buyer.

Four assets cover the field. Public law is case law and statutes, plus the editorial tagging that makes them searchable. Case evidence is the documents gathered for one lawsuit. Firm operations is billing, intake and scheduling. Firm knowledge is a firm's own past briefs, contracts and memos.

The first three have clear owners, mapped at right. Firm knowledge is still contested. Harvey bought Aida to reach it. But those files already sit in NetDocuments and iManage, along with the rules on who may open them, so Harvey works inside permissions it doesn't set.

When you assess a company here, separate what it owns from what it reaches through a connector.

What to Know

Thomson Reuters (CoCounsel): public law · firms, in-house legal, government · training its own legal model on Westlaw · 1M users

LexisNexis (Protégé): public law, now reaching into a firm's own documents · firms, in-house legal

Legora: public-law challenger with its own map of legal concepts, plus partners such as Blue J for tax · 40%+ of Q3 new customers were in-house teams · $8.8B valuation

Harvey: firm knowledge, via Aida · large firms, 500+ in-house teams · 3,500+ customers

NetDocuments, iManage: hold firm files and the access rules

Everlaw, Relativity, DISCO: case evidence · litigation teams · Google's Relativity connector handles admin tasks only

Clio: firm operations · small firms, acquiring its way toward mid-size and enterprise

EvenUp: plaintiff case data · personal-injury firms · 2,000+ firms

All figures are company-reported. Vendors count different units, so the numbers don't compare.

Vertical Scan

Most vertical AI news in the past two weeks arrived as funding announcements. For a design leader deciding where to build next, a more useful question sits underneath: who owns the record a professional relies on, and who owns the screen where that professional does the work.

In two verticals, companies holding proprietary data chose to feed outside assistants instead of building their own. That leaves the working surface open, and the working surface is where product design decisions carry the most weight.

Legal, finance, field work and accounting moved. Healthcare moved on liability rules rather than products. Insurance and agriculture were quiet.

Vertical Scan

Most vertical AI news in the past two weeks arrived as funding announcements. For a design leader deciding where to build next, a more useful question sits underneath: who owns the record a professional relies on, and who owns the screen where that professional does the work.

In two verticals, companies holding proprietary data chose to feed outside assistants instead of building their own. That leaves the working surface open, and the working surface is where product design decisions carry the most weight.

Legal, finance, field work and accounting moved. Healthcare moved on liability rules rather than products. Insurance and agriculture were quiet.

Legal

Everlaw lets outside AI tools into its evidence

Omni, Everlaw's new agent, answers questions across its e-discovery tools. Taking actions inside the platform is still on the roadmap. The CEO said customers care more about plugging outside AI tools in under Everlaw's permissions and audit trail. If that ships, Harvey and Legora would query Everlaw's evidence instead of displacing it.

Healthcare

AMA framework shifts clinical AI liability toward vendors

The AMA's October 29 framework assigns responsibility by each party's authority, information and ability to prevent harm. It says physician oversight cannot make up for weak evidence or poor system design. It is a policy proposal, not law. Vendors whose safety answer is "a clinician reviews it" should expect buyers to ask for evidence instead.

Finance

Focus Financial now runs overlapping advisor AI tools

Wealth-management group Focus added Nevis for account opening and onboarding, nine months into rolling out Jump to 800 advisors. Jump is piloting account opening too, and Zocks shipped a Schwab-linked version on October 28. Meeting notetakers are converging on one workflow, so expect large firms to pick one. Jump's 70% time savings is self-reported from 40 advisors.

Field & Industrial

Investors price retrofit excavator autonomy at $4.1B