Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff insists artificial intelligence won’t eliminate sales positions, announcing plans to hire between 3,000 and 5,000 new salespeople as the company pushes toward 20,000 accounts executives by year’s end. Speaking in October 2025, Benioff emphasized that “face-to-face communication” remains essential in sales, stating that AI “doesn’t have a soul” and lacks authentic human connectivity. The billionaire tech executive’s stance comes despite Salesforce’s aggressive AI adoption across other departments, including customer service where the company cut 4,000 roles earlier this year.“We love AI, OK? But AI — it’s not the same,” Benioff told TBPN. “It’s not that human connectivity.”
Benioff says AI augments sales capacity, doesn’t replace sellers
Benioff argues AI enhances rather than replaces human salespeople, addressing a problem Salesforce has faced for 26 years: unanswered leads. The CEO revealed that AI agents recently contacted 4,000 potential customers in one week—follow-ups previously impossible with human-only teams.The combination of expanded human sales staff and AI assistance will increase Salesforce’s overall sales capacity by 19%, Benioff projects. Among the company’s 80,000 employees, roughly 25% are trained to help customers use Salesforce’s sales products.
Salesforce’s decision tells a different story
While championing sales hiring, Benioff confirmed in September that Salesforce reduced customer support from 9,000 to 5,000 employees because he “needs less heads.” The company’s Agentforce AI platform now handles 50% of customer interactions, having completed over 1.2 million conversations since October 2024.The AI deployment reduced support costs by 17% and decreased case volumes enough that Salesforce no longer actively backfills support engineer positions, according to a company spokesperson.Benioff’s divergent approach—expanding sales while contracting support—reflects his belief that balance is crucial. “If you turn it over to 100% AI, you’re putting your whole company at risk,” he told Axios in July, acknowledging the “bumpy” transition as companies navigate unprecedented technological change.
