Salesforce's Dreamforce demo of an AI agent handling supplier onboarding in SAP has drawn scrutiny from SAP experts who say it may run afoul of SAP's API policy. The demo showed the agent, named Marshall, learning how to navigate SAP's interface and then executing trusted actions from Slack. Salesforce says the interaction used service accounts through the user interface, not SAP APIs, so the API policy's restrictions do not apply.
Independent SAP consultant Mario de Felipe disagreed, arguing that the demo effectively captured SAP's internal logic and product behavior. He pointed to the API policy's ban on "impersonation techniques" and its requirement that autonomous AI operate only through SAP-endorsed architectures. Marian Zeis, another independent consultant, said he mostly agreed but cautioned that the key question is how the demo was implemented; an agent acting with user authorization may not count as impersonation.
Longtime SAP expert John Appleby took a more measured view, noting that demos are often designed to be "edgy but not break any license agreements." He called the situation a grey area and suggested Salesforce likely checked compliance given it named Siemens as a customer. SAP has not commented, and the episode highlights broader criticism that SAP's API policy, launched in April, may not fit how customers actually work with AI today.