Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and the AI ‘Fantasy Land’

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Marc Benioff is one of the most outspoken names in tech. The billionaire co-founder of customer relationship software company Salesforce has been pivoting the company’s focus to artificial intelligence agents to help its clients manage customer service and other needs. But he has some strong opinions about how others are promoting AI, from how Microsoft is selling its Copilot feature to companies like Amazon buying up nuclear power contracts for their data centers. And yet he says he’s as excited about AI as he was the day that Apple’s Steve Jobs sent him one of the first iPhones. So what can AI actually do, and what’s a ‘fantasy’? Benioff speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins in episode two of our interview series Bold Names. Further Reading The Secret Weapon Helping Businesses Get Results From AI: Humans Salesforce Darkens the Skies for Cloud Software as AI Threat Looms Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Makes $150 Million Donation to Hawaii Hospitals At Marc Benioff’s Salesforce, It’s One Big Family—Until Trouble Hits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:33.3	If you've heard of Mark Benioff, it might be because he spent more than a billion dollars building the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco.
0:40.5	Now the world headquarters for Salesforce, the 25-year-old enterprise software company he leads.
0:46.4	Or maybe it's because he spent $190 million of his own money to buy Time magazine.
0:52.1	But if his latest big bet pays off,
0:54.6	someday he might be known for something totally different,
0:57.4	namely replacing thousands and eventually millions of white-collar workers with AI agents.
1:03.5	Benioff is one of the most outspoken voices in tech.
1:06.6	He doesn't keep his opinions to himself.
1:08.9	And as he tells it, AI agents are the future.
1:12.5	They never get tired, never have to take a break,
1:15.0	and they're potentially much more autonomous than today's limited AI chatbots.
1:20.3	But, and this is important, he doesn't buy into some of what he calls the false prophecies around AI right now.
1:28.1	Number one, everyone is not going to need their own nuclear power plant to run their
1:32.0	data centers, this whole energy fantasy, and number two, that everybody has to start
1:37.3	DIYing it and building them themselves.
1:39.5	Let's just take these down one by one.
	...

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