The $285 Billion AI Shakeup: What Anthropic Cowork Means for Your Business

The Week AI Ate $285 Billion

On Tuesday, something extraordinary happened. A single AI product launch — Anthropic's Claude Cowork — triggered a $285 billion selloff across software, legal services, data analytics, and advertising stocks. Thomson Reuters dropped 18%. RELX plunged to its lowest since 1988. LegalZoom lost nearly 20% in a day.

This was not a market hiccup. It was investors voting with their feet on a fundamental question: What happens when AI can do what expensive software used to do?

If you run a business, this matters to you. Not because of stock prices, but because of what it signals about the tools available to you right now.

What Claude Cowork Actually Does

Anthropic's Claude Cowork is an AI agent that can perform complex workflows autonomously. The Friday launch included plug-ins for:

**Legal research and document analysis** (threatening Westlaw, LexisNexis)

**Sales automation** (CRM workflows, lead qualification)

**Marketing content and campaigns** (challenging Jasper, specialized agencies)

**Data analysis** (competing with BI tools and analytics platforms)

This is not a chatbot. It is an autonomous worker that can execute multi-step business processes with minimal human oversight. And it arrived with a follow-up punch: Opus 4.6, designed specifically for complex financial research and coding work.

Investors panicked because they realized: many businesses might not need the specialized software they have been paying for.

The Opportunity Hidden in the Chaos

Here is what the stock market selloff obscures: this is extraordinarily good news for small and mid-sized businesses.

For years, enterprise software has been priced for enterprises. Comprehensive legal research tools cost thousands per month. Proper data analytics platforms require dedicated staff. Marketing automation at scale meant six-figure agency retainers.

Now, for the cost of a Claude Pro subscription ($20/month), you can access capabilities that were previously gated behind enterprise contracts.

The same AI that is threatening Thomson Reuters' business model is democratizing access to their capabilities.

A Framework for Evaluating Your Software Stack

This is the moment to audit every SaaS subscription your business pays for. Ask these questions:

1. What specific task does this software do?

Be precise. "CRM" is too vague. "Tracks customer interactions and automates follow-up emails" is specific enough to evaluate.

2. Can an AI agent do this task today?

Test it. Give Claude or ChatGPT your actual workflow. If the AI can handle 80% of what the software does, you have a decision to make.

3. What is the risk of AI errors vs. software reliability?

For low-stakes tasks (drafting emails, generating reports, initial research), AI errors are easily caught and corrected. For high-stakes tasks (legal compliance, financial reporting), you may still want specialized software with guarantees.

4. What is the true cost comparison?

Include time. If your $200/month software saves 2 hours of AI prompt-wrangling weekly, it might still be worth it. If AI can do the job faster, the software is dead weight.

Practical Moves to Make This Month

Immediate actions:

1. List every SaaS subscription your business pays for. Include the monthly cost and what it does.

2. Test Claude Cowork or ChatGPT on your top 3 most expensive tools' workflows. Document what works and what doesn't.

3. Identify one tool you can cancel and replace with AI. Start with low-risk, non-customer-facing functions.

4. Reinvest savings into AI tools that multiply your capabilities — not just replace existing ones.

Longer-term positioning:

Train yourself (or one team member) to become proficient with AI agents. This is a skill gap that will matter.

Build AI into your processes now, before competitors do.

Watch for specialized AI tools that go deeper than general-purpose assistants in your industry.

The Winners and Losers

Who loses:

Companies selling software that AI can replicate

Businesses slow to adopt AI (they will face AI-augmented competitors)

Professionals who view AI as a threat rather than a tool

Who wins:

Small businesses that can now access enterprise-grade capabilities

Professionals who learn to leverage AI as a force multiplier

Companies that move fast while competitors deliberate

The Uncomfortable Truth

This week's market reaction was not irrational. It was a rational repricing of business models that AI is genuinely disrupting.

But disruption is always asymmetric. The same force that threatens Thomson Reuters empowers the solo attorney who can now conduct research at 10x speed. The same AI that challenges marketing agencies enables the two-person startup to run campaigns that previously required a team.

The question is not whether AI will change how business works. That is already happening. The question is whether you will be riding the wave or swept under it.

Bottom Line

Anthropic's Claude Cowork launch is a milestone worth marking. Not because of the stock market drama, but because of what it signals: the gap between enterprise capabilities and small business capabilities just narrowed dramatically.

Your move: audit your software stack, test AI alternatives, and start building the skills to use these tools effectively. The businesses that adapt fastest will have an advantage that compounds every month.

The $285 billion question has been asked. How you answer it determines whether this AI moment is a threat or the biggest opportunity your business has seen in years.