Evan Goldberg on AI trust: Confident answers aren’t enough, context is everything

Oracle NetSuite introduced SuiteAgents at their SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas on October 26, 2025. These AI agents are tailored to specific industries and aim to assist businesses in managing complex processes. By leveraging NetSuite's unified data model and 28 years of industry knowledge, SuiteAgents monitor ongoing operations and execute multi-step tasks within existing workflows. The company emphasizes that these agents help retain oversight, judgment, and accountability while enabling faster responses.

NetSuite has developed agents for six key industries: software, products, construction, healthcare, services, and nonprofits. Each agent focuses on different aspects relevant to its respective industry. For example, the software agent identifies revenue retention issues, margin concerns, and compliance risks, while the healthcare agent assesses supply and financial risks. The agents are currently available only for software, product, and construction verticals, with the remaining industries slated for future releases.

Evan Goldberg, the founder and executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, highlighted the difference between this generation of AI agents and previous ones. He explained that NetSuite's AI Connector Service, launched about a year ago, has been used by around 13,000 companies. The feedback from these customers has directly contributed to the development of SuiteAgents, which Goldberg described as a "totally different generation" of business software.

While Goldberg acknowledged that AI models can be overly confident, he argued that the solution lies in context. By keeping most of a business's data within a single platform and incorporating the collective expertise of NetSuite experts and its partner network, the AI agents can provide accurate and reliable assistance. He assured that customer data remains theirs, with NetSuite only using aggregated usage information to improve the service.

The launch of SuiteAgents comes with a strategic announcement called Quickstart, aimed at helping tech startups transition from their initial idea to an IPO. Quickstart offers essential accounting and subscription capabilities, as well as some features tailored to startups with a physical component. The service runs in the background, allowing founders to access financial information from anywhere.

If a startup outgrows Quickstart, it can seamlessly transition to NetSuite Next. Goldberg mentioned that the free tier of Quickstart will eventually transition to a paid model.