SalesforceCRM

CEO Marc Benioff says that AI agents are a “new labor model, new productivity model, and a new economic model.” If that’s unclear and too nebulous a statement, he’s referring to his belief that “agentic AI” models will allow companies to deploy digital workers — eventually replacing human workers, managers, and executives. With Silicon Valley increasingly optimistic that agentic AI will finally break into the enterprise sector this year, Benioff and Salesforce are now selling the promise of this new tech to businesses.

• Salesforce is hiring 2K people to sell its new AI products and bailing large sums into paid advertising to put its agentic AI platform, Agentforce, in front of major corporate buyers.
• It’s showing early signs of success, too, with Benioff saying the firm did “200 deals in our third quarter,” with potentially thousands of deals in Q4. He says he’s “never seen anything go as fast as Agentforce.”

Rise of the agents: Unlike generative AI, which has seen mixed reception, agentic AI models can take control of your computer, perform a handful of tasks, and operate with limited intervention from human helpers. That pitch is practical for some companies, which is why the battle of agents has been heating up. Last week, OpenAI launched Operator, looking to compete with a similar product launched in Anthropic’s Claude back in October. Soon, there could be dozens of similar agentic models — all vying for a cut of the economy’s demand for cheap, efficient workers.