CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz pushed back on the narrative that artificial intelligence makes cloud-based software obsolete. “I don’t really buy that,” Kurtz told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on ” Squawk on the Street ” on Thursday morning. “I think you need software in order to be able to protect AI. They’re interrelated. It’s not like you just have one without the other.” That core argument of AI killing software is two-fold and has been developing ever since agentic AI – a new class of autonomous agents – has gained traction as a more automated way to operate a business. First, the perceived threat is that customers integrating AI-enabled tools, which operate independently with little to no human interaction, won’t need to pay for as much access to a suite of software-as-a-service tools. The SaaS model charges clients per seat. The second layer of concern is that AI will get so good at writing computer code that customers won’t need SaaS businesses as much because the AI can do it for them. Kurtz argued the new wave of agentic AI is “only going to accelerate SaaS,” citing the fact that SaaS providers are leveraging AI to create better applications and software for their customers. He also believes that such a dynamic works in CrowdStrike’s favor because the company delivers cybersecurity and AI protection through its software. CrowdStrike’s cloud-native Falcon platform uses AI to protect against breaches and eliminates the need for on-premises servers. CrowdStrike also protects other SaaS players, including Salesforce . CRWD YTD mountain CRWD performance year-to-date. Shares of CrowdStrike rose more than 3% on Thursday, hitting another intraday all-time high. The stock has been the CNBC Investing Club’s third-best performer in 2025, with a year-to-date gain of more than 50%. Fellow Club cybersecurity name Palo Alto Networks advanced 1.5% on Thursday, extending its 18% year-to-date gain. Salesforce is also a holding in the Club portfolio.
