Marc Benioff on Elon, AI Agents, and the “DOGE”

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

News Commentary, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2024

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How will AI agents change the economy and the workforce — and are Americans ready? Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has some thoughts. After a stellar quarter boosted by the customer resource management company’s new AI autonomous agents, Agentforce, Benioff explains to Kara how employers and employees will be impacted by a new era of digital workers; why he thinks investing tens of billions in AI capital expenditures (like his competitor Microsoft) is a “race to the bottom”; and what he hopes will come from Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Plus: Kara and Marc go another round on “DOGE Master” Elon Musk, and whether it’s still possible for business leaders to still defend their values and workers without fear of political repercussions. They also remember their mutual friend, former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who died earlier this year. Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Kara.
0:01.0	Hey, how you doing?
0:02.0	I'm doing great.
0:03.0	I'm just rolling in here.
0:04.0	Yeah, you're always rolling in somewhere.
0:05.0	Give me a second, you've proved my beauty here.
0:07.0	I don't think it's possible.
0:09.0	Oh, God, thank you.
0:10.0	Just tell me when you're ready, pretty.
0:12.0	It's all. Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:26.4	This is on with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:29.1	My guest today is Mark Benioff, again, the CEO of Salesforce.
0:33.7	I've known him since the last century.
0:35.9	I've interviewed him, I don't know, dozens of times. I can't remember where I first met him, but I believe he annoyed me on some level. I think he was working for Oracle or somewhere else. But he has, he's a really interesting entrepreneur, and he hasn't changed a lot. The only thing he did that I refused to do is meditate with him,
0:54.6	which I declined, and we've gotten an argument. We've been arguing ever since.
0:58.6	But we've gotten a lot of disagreements on and off the mic, but we've always agreed on value stuff for the most part.
1:04.6	I thought he was very brave when it came to LGBTQ issues in Indiana many years ago.
1:10.4	That said, we also argue about lots of things
1:12.6	like how Elon Musk has become a toxic force. He always looks for the good and people. I look
1:18.5	for maybe they could be better. But anyway, right now he's evangelizing for what he's calling
1:23.8	the adjantic era. I think that's the correct way pronouncing it. It sounds familiar
1:28.6	because we've been talking about it a lot. In September, Salesforce came out with their own
	...

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