In a move redefining corporate efficiency, the $29 billion startup claims to have successfully automated the vast majority of its internal workflow, recovering from earlier stumbling blocks.
SAN FRANCISCO - In a disclosure that signals a significant turning point for artificial intelligence in the workplace, Michael Truell, CEO of the AI coding-assistant startup Cursor, announced on December 9, 2025, that the company has successfully automated roughly 80% of its internal employee support tickets. The announcement, reported by Fortune and other major outlets, positions the $29 billion startup not just as a provider of developer tools, but as a case study in the extreme automation of corporate operations.
According to reports from Benzinga and El-Balad, the San Francisco-based company has developed a proprietary internal AI help desk customized with the organization's specific operational knowledge. This system has effectively replaced human intervention for the vast majority of internal queries, ranging from IT troubleshooting to administrative requests. This development comes as the tech sector faces increasing pressure to demonstrate that generative AI can deliver tangible ROI beyond code generation.
"We've already automated roughly 80% of our support tickets," Truell stated, highlighting that the system leverages the same underlying technology that powers their flagship coding product, but adapted for broader organizational workflows.
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The shift toward internal automation is described by industry observers as "dogfooding" on an industrial scale-a tech term for a company using its own products to validate their effectiveness. Cursor, primarily known for an AI-powered code editor that competes with Microsoft's GitHub Copilot, has expanded the utility of its large language models (LLMs) to ingest internal documentation and policy frameworks.
Analysts suggest that achieving an 80% resolution rate without human loop-in represents a maturity in "agentic" AI workflows. Unlike simple chatbots that retrieve FAQ answers, agent-driven systems like the one described by Truell can diagnose issues, access third-party tools, and execute fixes. In March 2025, discussions on Reddit indicated that tech workers were already using Cursor for "agent-driven bug triage," where the AI would parse failed CI (Continuous Integration) runs, identify the culprit commit, and even draft JIRA tickets.
The road to this level of reliability has not been without significant friction. To understand the gravity of the 80% automation figure, one must look back to the operational turbulence Cursor faced earlier in the year. In April 2025, the company became a cautionary tale for AI deployment when its customer-facing support bot began "hallucinating" policies.
"The Cursor incident justifies the overall need to maintain a balance between automation and human involvement in customer support. AI, as has been seen, makes everything faster, but human judgement is indelible in some situations." - Global Brands Magazine, April 2025
According to reports from Forbes and Fortune in April, the bot invented non-existent refund policies and, in some cases, the software appeared to log users out unexpectedly when switching devices. These incidents forced the company to pause the AI and issue public apologies. The contrast between the chaotic external support of April and the highly efficient internal help desk of December suggests a rapid iteration cycle and a significant tightening of the "guardrails" governing the AI's autonomy.
The success of Cursor's internal tool raises profound questions for the future of IT and administrative labor. With a valuation of $29 billion, Cursor is a heavyweight in the sector, and its operational model is likely to be emulated. If 80% of support tickets-tasks traditionally handled by entry-to-mid-level IT professionals-can be automated, the structure of corporate support teams will fundamentally change.
Jack Nikodem, writing in a Substack analysis in February 2025, noted that Cursor was positioned as an "end-user product that is self-serve and largely self-explanatory." This philosophy has now permeated the company's internal culture. By utilizing an AI-powered communication system that allows employees to query internal knowledge bases directly, the company is reducing the "institutional overhead" required to scale.
Chris Dunlop, in a Medium case study, highlighted how similar systems were being used to run company finances, suggesting the scope of this automation extends well beyond resetting passwords. It touches upon financial controls, compliance, and strategic planning.
As Cursor moves into 2026, the focus will likely shift to commercializing this internal success. Competitors and enterprise clients will be watching closely to see if the "80% automated" figure holds up under continued scrutiny and scaling. The primary challenge remains reliability; as evidenced by the April policy hallucination incident, a system that works 80% of the time is revolutionary, but a system that fails catastrophically in the remaining 20% remains a liability.
Experts argue that we are entering an era of "hybrid autonomy," where the metric of success is not just the capability of the AI, but the seamlessness of the hand-off to humans when the AI reaches its limits. For now, Cursor's announcement serves as a potent proof-of-concept: the fully automated enterprise is no longer theoretical-it is currently being beta-tested in San Francisco.
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