AI Context Engineering: The Next Frontier

In the rapidly evolving world of AI, the latest battleground isn’t about the models themselves; it’s about controlling context. On October 15, 2025, The AI Daily Brief emphasized this transformation in their episode “The Next AI Platform Isn’t a Model — It’s Your Context.” They delve into how major players like Slack, Google, and Microsoft are vying to harness the data and context needed to drive AI agents effectively. Context engineering is emerging as the new frontier, surpassing prompt engineering by integrating broader access to necessary data for AI operations.

The episode offers insights into significant moves by leading companies. Slack, for instance, has integrated ChatGPT to utilize its new real-time search API, allowing chatbots to mine work conversations. This development underscores the shift towards making AI interactions more seamless and context-rich. Further, Anthropic and OpenAI have paved the discussion on context engineering, emphasizing the importance of feeding AI with the right informational environment for optimal performance.

Critically, the episode highlights Salesforce’s strategic choice to become a central platform for AI tools through Slack, reversing previous positions to restrict access. This demonstrates a broader industry trend toward facilitating open ecosystems that benefit from deep context integration. Conversely, the critique arises when highlighting that such reliance on specific platforms raises concerns of data ownership and accessibility, where businesses might find themselves locked into ecosystems for accessing their context.

Overall, while the strides companies are making towards leveraging context signify a powerful evolution in AI’s enterprise application, the narrative also brings attention to the limitations and questions about data sovereignty and platform dependency that stakeholders must navigate.