Would you buy something from an AI salesperson? Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff doesn’t think so.
It’s a surprising take from a company that has gone all in on AI. It’s even in the company’s branding — the “#1 AI CRM” — and its investments. Earlier this month, Salesforce announced a $15 billion investment in workforce development and startup incubation in San Francisco in an effort to build the “world’s AI capital.”
Even with his bullishness on AI, however, Benioff doesn’t think the tech will replace human salespeople. Salesforce is in fact bringing on thousands of new account executives, he told TBPN, a live daily YouTube show covering business and tech.
Benioff said “face-to-face communication” will always be essential.
“Look, we love AI, OK? But AI — it’s not the same,” Benioff said. “AI doesn’t have a soul. It’s not that human connectivity.”
AI skeptics worry that AI will eliminate jobs or reduce the need for hiring. They often point to Gen Z tech workers, who are seeing fewer available entry-level jobs.
That isn’t the case in Silicon Valley just yet. In fact, AI has led to a hiring boom at many Big Tech companies — including Salesforce.
Benioff said that he recently hired between 3,000 to 5,000 more salespeople.
“I’m growing my sales force,” Benioff said. “I’m going to try to get to 20,000 account executives this year. That doesn’t include systems engineers, managers, the infrastructure teams.”
Salesforce has 80,000 employees, Benioff said, a quarter of whom are trained to help customers use the company’s sales product.
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Benioff is one of many CEOs reassuring workers that their company is still hiring, even with AI efficiency gains. Figma CEO Dylan Field recently said that AI wasn’t “coming for you,” and that the company was hiring across departments.
While Benioff is unconcerned about AI replacing sales jobs, he is worried that customers are struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation.
He told CNBC host Jim Cramer on Tuesday that the “speed of innovation is far exceeding the speed of customer adoption.”
Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference ended on Thursday. The conference featured talks from several tech executives, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol.
Across the street from the conference is the St. Regis Hotel, Benioff said. At the hotel’s bar was another sign that AI wasn’t taking over human-to-human sales anytime soon.
“The bar is filled,” Benioff said. “It’s not our people that are in the bar. It was our customers talking to each other and connecting, going more deeply, having that human touch.”
