Sridhar Vembu gets startup founder’s acquisition email leaking confidential rival price, then an AI agent’s apology

Sridhar Vembu’s post about the bizarre email from an AI agent has sparked a discussion on the use of artificial intelligence in official communications.

Zoho founder and former CEO Sridhar Vembu shared a tweet about receiving an acquisition request from a startup founder, followed by a bizarre email from an AI agent. His post about receiving confidential information in the first email and then an apology from an “AI agent” has sparked a discussion about the use of artificial intelligence in business communication.

Sridhar Vembu’s tweet involving an AI agent has gone viral. (Image via Twitter)

“I got an email from a startup founder, asking if we could acquire them, mentioning some other company interested in acquiring them and the price they were offering,” Vembu wrote.

He added that soon after, he received an email where an AI agent apologised to him for leaking confidential information. “Then I received an email from their ‘browser AI agent’ correcting the earlier mail saying ‘I am sorry I disclosed confidential information about other discussions, it was my fault as the AI agent’.”

How did social media react?

An individual joked, “If you were also using an AI agent, all conversations would be between agents only, and mistakes would remain between agents if agents were forgiving within their fraternity.” Another added, “This is exactly the new kind of chaos AI is introducing into business communication. We’ve officially entered the era where Humans negotiate, AI accidentally spills the deal terms, and then AI tries to clean up the mess. It’s amusing, yet also a poignant reminder. AI can assist in communication, but it can also miscommunicate, over-share, or break confidentiality if not properly controlled.”

A third expressed, “It's a wake-up call for anyone building or using AI in high-stakes scenarios like mergers and acquisitions talks. Autonomous AI is powerful, but without guardrails, it can turn high-stakes negotiations into accidental self-goals.”

A fourth wrote, “This is exactly the scary part of using AI to handle emails. If we let an AI send messages on our behalf, it can share things that any founder would know should stay private. AI can help draft, but a human should always read and send the final mail.”