Salesforce Hits Milestone with AI Agents, Sees Robot Future

Salesforce has closed over 1,000 paid deals for its "Agentforce" platform, which uses artificial intelligence to create virtual representatives, CEO Marc Benioff announced on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

At a company event in San Francisco, Salesforce showcased advancements in its platform, enabling businesses to build bots for various tasks such as recruiting and customer service, both within Salesforce and its messaging app, Slack.

Benioff highlighted how Salesforce has applied this technology internally, noting that the company now requires half the number of employees to handle simple customer queries. Despite this efficiency gain, he expressed his intention to expand the company's sales team by 10% or more.

"We're now at a point where we're using AI to automate tasks that used to require human intervention," said Benioff. "This is not about replacing people, but about augmenting them and creating new opportunities."

While many companies have experimented with AI following the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, few have yet realized significant cost savings or revenue generation from this technology. Benioff, who has been focusing on AI-powered agents, or "digital labor," within Salesforce in recent months, sees this technology as a key driver of economic growth.

Looking ahead, Salesforce plans to launch a "robot force partner program" to connect physical machines with virtual agents. Benioff cited hotel chains as an example, suggesting they could utilize AI assistants for front- and back-office operations while robots handle room cleaning.

During the event, Benioff also addressed the incoming Trump administration's potential focus on digital labor, stating he hoped President-elect Donald Trump would engage with CEOs on this topic. When asked about potential charitable contributions to Trump's inaugural fund, Benioff replied, "I think we just donated the photo. He can use the Time cover at no charge."