Marc Benioff said that artificial intelligence is dramatically reshaping Salesforce, but it doesn't mean it wipes out white-collar workers.
Salesforce CEO Benioff told Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson in a recent stage interview for the Global Summit at 2025 AI. “Maybe they have AI, I don't have one. But with the AI I have, it wouldn't be a massive layoff of white-collar workers, that's a radical augmentation of the workforce.”
Benioff's broader view of AI is in contrast to other views of technology over the next decade. Dario Amodei, the CEO of humanity who was not mentioned directly during Benioff's appearance, said that AI could eliminate half of its entry-level white-collar work within the next five years.
People need to overcome this type of common “fear,” Benioff said.
“When I'm talking to customers, I don't hear them say, 'Yeah, now I'm laying out these people, so I think we somehow need to throw away the fear of what that means.”
For his own company, Benioff says that the company can “really retain AI productivity” as he suspends employment at Salesforce, which hired engineers, lawyers and customer service agents annually.
“Now, for engineering organizations, because of the incredible productivity opportunities, for engineering AI this year, we don't have a focus on hiring another 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 engineers, for the AI in engineering this year,” he said.
At the same time, Benioff said Salesforce is increasing sales-related adoption due to customer demand for AI deployments. In his view, we are at the edge of the “fundamental explosion of small and medium-sized businesses.”
“You just look at more SMBs and more general business and mid-market businesses, because that ability is fundamentally amplified by AI,” he said.
