Notion keeps AI features low-key as workplace tools race to add agents

Notion is building more AI into its workplace software without putting every new tool front and center. The strategy matters as productivity platforms compete to add agents, chat interfaces and automation while trying not to overwhelm users.

Randy Hunt, Notion’s head of design, told Fortune at the SuperAI summit in Singapore that “you can’t have every new tool screaming at you.” He cited Notion’s AI summarization feature, which appears in a toolbar only after a user highlights text, as an example of the company’s quieter approach.

Hunt told Fortune that Notion can encourage people to find and use new tools without making them constantly visible. The company’s broader bet, according to Fortune, is that restraint can help keep the app usable as AI features multiply.

AI features added without a full redesign

Notion began adding AI functions in 2023, including meeting transcription, translation and summarization, Fortune reported. In September, the company introduced personal AI agents for routine tasks, and earlier this year it released Custom Agents, which TechCrunch reported let teams create automated workflows without repeatedly prompting the system.

Hunt told Fortune that Notion has tried to preserve its existing design rather than rebuild the product around AI. He compared the process to maintaining a garden: adding and changing parts over time rather than replacing the whole thing.

The main exception, Hunt told Fortune, is Notion’s AI chat interface, where the technology required a more visible design change. Other AI features are being placed inside workflows users already know, he said.

From productivity app to AI workspace

Ivan Zhao and Simon Last founded Notion in San Francisco in 2013, Fortune reported. The company raised $2 million in seed funding but struggled early; Forbes has reported that in 2015 the founders laid off the team, took a $150,000 emergency loan from Zhao’s mother and moved to lower-cost Japan.

Notion relaunched in 2016 as a flexible productivity tool and reached its first million users by 2019, according to Fortune. The app later gained attention through customizable templates shared on social platforms, including YouTube, where creators showed how they organized work and personal projects.

Hunt, who joined Notion in 2024, told Fortune that the product’s appeal comes from being adaptable and open-ended. He said that flexibility helps explain why users form an attachment to the brand.

Notion now has more than 100 million users and more than 10 offices worldwide, and its annual revenue passed $500 million last year, Fortune reported. CNBC reported that half of Notion’s business and enterprise users now pay for AI features.

In January, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC joined a $270 million employee share sale alongside investors including Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures, according to The Business Times. The transaction valued Notion at $11 billion, the publication reported.

Singapore becomes a notable market

Hunt told Fortune that Notion has more than a million users in Singapore. He also named Singapore-based Supabase and Manus AI as customers.

Notion does not separate its design priorities for enterprise buyers and individual users, Hunt told Fortune. He said workplace users often compare business software with consumer apps they use outside work, making ease of use a priority even when employers make the purchasing decision.

Last month, Notion introduced a developer platform that lets users build custom agents and bring AI models such as Claude and Codex into their workspaces, according to a company release cited by Fortune. Fortune reported that the move resembles efforts by Microsoft, Google and Salesforce to make AI agents part of workplace software.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.