Salesforce Lays Off 4,000 As AI Takes Over Support

Salesforce CRM has cut about 4,000 customer support jobs as artificial intelligence takes over more of the work, CEO Marc Benioff revealed on The Logan Bartlett Show. He said the shift is part of his broader plan to turn Salesforce into what he calls an agentic enterprise.

Benioff explained that the company has trimmed its global support staff from 9,000 to around 5,000. I need fewer heads, he said, adding that AI systems now act as supervisors, helping human agents work more efficiently.

The move hasn't just been about cost-cutting. Benioff said the freed-up roles are being redirected into sales, giving Salesforce more muscle in distribution and lead generation. We're doing more than 10,000 leads a week right now, having conversations and turning them into pipeline. Our pipelines have never been more full, he said.

Just a year ago, nearly all customer conversations on Salesforce's service cloud were handled by people. Today, Benioff says those interactions are split evenly between AI agents and humans a sign of how quickly the balance is shifting inside one of tech's biggest names.