Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has deepened his company’s commitment to artificial intelligence, claiming that its AI platform, Agentforce, is the backbone of everything Salesforce creates. During the company’s annual Dreamforce 2025 conference in San Francisco, Benioff told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that Salesforce is not just a cloud software company anymore — it is an “AI-first” enterprise. Benioff said that many people did not realize Agentforce was essentially Salesforce itself, adding that it had become the center of everything the company was building and the platform on which all its products were based. The comment highlights a significant shift for Salesforce, which is making substantial investments, and AI will be the driving force behind the next decade of business transformation. The company’s most recent upgrades and partnerships aim to integrate AI agents into its customers’ daily lives. Agentforce transforms into Salesforce’s backbone. Originally designed to automate mundane tasks within enterprises, the platform has evolved into a full-fledged AI OS. It now powers everything from sales forecasting and marketing campaigns to customer service chatbots and predictive analytics. Agentforce 360, as the second generation of the idea, was announced at Dreamforce 2025 by Salesforce. The upgraded version combines AI agents, real-time data, and human workflows into a single, consistent experience. It plugs into the Salesforce orbit — which now includes messaging app Slack, data visualization software Tableau, and Data Cloud — so companies can deploy AI agents that illuminate every corner of their businesses in real-time and take action autonomously. It’s no longer a side project, according to Benioff, emphasizing that Agentforce was now at the heart of Salesforce’s suite of software. The company had already cleared tens of thousands of instances, and customers were starting to reap productivity gains as they geared up for the next level of execution, he said. Salesforce’s AI tools have been adopted by leading enterprises, including Dell, Williams-Sonoma, and PepsiCo, to drive operational efficiencies and gain unprecedented insights, thereby transforming their businesses. The startup is changing the way that sales gets done in enterprises, transforming customer relationship management, which Benioff describes as “agentive relationship management.” Salesforce has strengthened its connections with top AI developers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, whose massive language models are being incorporated into Agentforce. The partnership enables customers to safely leverage generative AI within Salesforce’s trusted ecosystem, combining sophisticated automation with enterprise-grade data governance. Benioff argued that companies needed trusted partners to navigate the complexity and ethical challenges of enterprise AI, noting that Salesforce held a unique advantage in that regard. He added that enterprises were no longer simply seeking access to AI but were now demanding AI systems they could trust, ones that were safe, reliable, and accountable. Investors wary even as mega bets on AI roll in Despite the hype around AI, Salesforce’s financial performance has been met with pressure. The company’s stock has declined by more than 28% since the beginning of the year, as investors worry about slowing revenue growth and increasing competition. Analysts have noted that while Salesforce is moving fast and innovating, converting that innovation into profit will take time. Still, Benioff remains confident. He says the grass-roots move to an AI-oriented model is necessary for long-term success. Most industry analysts agree that Salesforce is preparing itself for the next great wave of business evolution. With AI integrated into every product, the company is betting that demand will increasingly be driven by organizations seeking to automate complex processes and keep human decision-making at the forefront. Benioff has used the term “agentic enterprise” to describe companies in which AI agents become tightly integrated into workflow. These businesses run everything, from customer service to supply chain logistics, on Agentforce, with agents able to make recommendations, take actions, and continually learn from the results. Benioff described his vision as ambitious, one in which companies would no longer use software but instead collaborate with AI partners that understood their data, goals, and customers. He said it was not just another platform but the beginning of a new way of doing business. Get $50 free to trade crypto when you sign up to Bybit now
