SAP API policy blocks third-party AI agents from customer data
TL;DR: An updated SAP API policy, published earlier this month and updated 27 April, prohibits the use of SAP APIs for “interaction or integration with (semi-) autonomous or generative AI systems” outside SAP-endorsed architectures, The Register reports. SAP consultants and partners say the policy effectively locks third-party AI tools out of customer SAP data. SAP says the policy clarifies “design-intended use” and protects platform stability.
The full policy language prohibits API use for “interaction or integration with (semi-) autonomous or generative AI systems that plan, select, or execute sequences of API calls” and for “scraping, harvesting, or systematic and/or large-scale data extraction or replication” — except through SAP-endorsed routes. Independent SAP consultant Marian Zeis told The Register the change is “more restrictive than the community expected” and could push partners and customers to undocumented APIs because SAP is “pretty slow” to publish or improve templates for documented ones.
What SAP and its critics are saying
SAP CEO Christian Klein, on last week’s investor call, said the company wants to keep its platform open, including for third-party AI agents, but reserved the right to throttle “millions of calls coming towards an API” for stability reasons. “The IP of SAP, the domain knowhow is something we will make available to our customers… but [is also] something which is a great asset to protect,” Klein said.
Alisdair Bach, head of SAP practice at consultancy Dragon ERP, told The Register there is a security case for the tightening: “AI-driven agents can probe weak access points far faster than any human ever could. In that environment, loose integration patterns are not just inefficient. They are vulnerable.” A counter-argument from the consulting community is that the policy bundles AI-vendor competition into a security wrapper, with the practical effect that customer data inside SAP becomes accessible only to AI tools SAP has blessed — including its own Joule and the Anthropic-powered SAP integrations announced last year.
Looking forward
For UK enterprise IT teams running SAP — covering most FTSE 350 finance, supply-chain and HR estates — the policy raises a near-term question about deployed third-party AI integrations. Microsoft Copilot, Salesforce Einstein and a long tail of agentic vendors all build SAP connectors. UK customers should ask their account teams which existing integrations are covered by SAP-endorsed status, what the renewal terms look like, and what evidence SAP can provide on response times for adding new endpoints to the documented set. The Competition and Markets Authority has previously examined cloud and enterprise software lock-in as a UK competition concern; expect this policy to be cited in the next round of that review.