Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says AI innovation is 'far exceeding' customer adoption

During a recent appearance on CNBC, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff expressed concerns over the pace at which companies are adopting artificial intelligence. Speaking to host Jim Cramer, he noted that while innovation in AI is advancing rapidly, customer adoption has not kept up. Benioff highlighted the success of clients like Williams-Sonoma and Pandora, who have integrated Salesforce's AI solutions. However, he emphasized the challenges businesses face in adapting their existing systems to accommodate these new technologies. "The speed of innovation is far exceeding the speed of customer adoption," he stated, indicating that many organizations need to revisit and modify their existing architectures to fully leverage AI capabilities. These remarks come in the context of Salesforce's stock performance, which has seen a decline of over 28% compared to last year and approximately 34% since its peak in December 2024. Earlier this year, the company revealed plans to reduce its workforce from 9,000 to 5,000, attributing this shift to the increasing reliance on AI agents. When discussing the stock's downturn, Benioff pointed to the growth of the Agentforce platform, which has become integral to Salesforce’s offerings. "People don't understand that Agentforce is part and parcel of Salesforce," he explained, asserting that it forms the foundation of all products the company develops. As the Dreamforce conference unfolds this week, it is expected to attract tens of thousands of attendees in San Francisco. Benioff aims to showcase AI-driven software solutions like Tableau and Slack, with ticket prices ranging from $999 to $2,299. Notable figures such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Dario Amodei from AI lab Anthropic are scheduled to engage in discussions with Benioff, complemented by musical performances from bands like Metallica and Benson Boone.