Is there ever a day when Silicon Valley bigwigs aren’t saying bad things about each other? Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff spends his time criticizing Microsoft’s AI products, one of his most frequent activities.
Benioff argued that it’s best to tune out the noise about AI, at least from people other than himself. “Microsoft has really let down so many customers,” Benioff told Business Insider. “They really did it by providing a certain level of hype around their AI solutions.”
Of course, Benioff is putting billions into the game of questioning the effectiveness of Microsoft’s AI co-pilot.
Just one day before our interview, Microsoft announced 10 new AI agents for its Dynamics 365 product. The innovation is in direct competition with the soon-to-be-released AI agent Agentforce and Salesforce says it will be made publicly available on Friday.
“Microsoft is having a hard time actually serving customers who have had some success with AI solutions,” he added in an interview with Business Insider.
His attack on Microsoft and its CEO Satya Nadella comes on the heels of scathing comments he made on the podcast Rapid Response just two weeks ago, in which Benioff said: AI research is already underway. ”
He added that Microsoft’s customers “have been told things about enterprise AI, and perhaps AI in general, that are not true.” Benioff previously compared Microsoft’s Copilot to Clippy, an outdated paperclip tool.
In response, Microsoft shared customer data with Fortune, noting that nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies use Copilot. In fact, even if customers are so disappointed, it’s not obvious given Microsoft’s growth base. According to the latest customer momentum and use case data shared by Microsoft, Copilot customers grew more than 60% quarter over quarter, and the number of people using the product every day at work nearly doubled over the same period. Ta.
Benioff is touting his own AI. But he acknowledges there is a way forward.
In Benioff’s eyes, AI has great potential, but it’s just been mishyped. “I’ve never been more excited to work at Salesforce, I don’t think so, in my entire career,” he said in Rapid Response, adding that AI will change businesses, Salesforce, and software forever.
In general, AI assistants have not been as world-changing as promised. Many AI-powered products and chatbot systems are plagued by hallucinations and bugs. It all feels like a technology version of The Emperor’s New Clothes as CEOs point their fingers and put their markers on future unpromising innovations.
Benioff recently said, “Although AI is not yet curing cancer or solving climate change, as experts claim, current AI technologies are providing us with ‘collaborative intelligence.’ He has immense power to drive meaningful improvement in many areas throughout his lifetime,” he tweeted.
The name of the game is “managing expectations.” This is certainly not a very attractive sell, especially if AI is still championed as the latest breakthrough technology. But it may become an increasingly popular message.
Benioff added on the podcast that CoPilot is “spreading data all over the floor.” He says he has “not found any customers who have made a difference” using the tool. He argued that it creates confusion for those who accept the narrative. Instead, Salesfore encourages people to “step into the field and see for yourself exactly what is possible, what is real, and how easy it is to get great value from AI.” ” is encouraged. Encouraging clients to engage in disruption is certainly an interesting strategy, but it’s by no means an over-the-top strategy.
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