Salesforce is increasing its focus on artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify tasks and improve efficiency across the company. This shift comes after the enterprise tech giant recently laid off thousands of employees as part of a wider restructuring strategy.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff shared that AI currently performs 30–50% of the company’s operations. He emphasized that as AI takes over routine work, human employees can shift to more valuable and strategic roles. “We need to embrace the idea that AI can handle tasks we used to do so we can focus on higher-level work,” he explained.
This development reflects a broader industry trend where AI is being used to cut costs, boost productivity, and transform traditional jobs. Salesforce let go of more than 1,000 employees earlier this year as part of its shift toward using more AI.
Concerns about AI replacing human jobs are growing. Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, believes that AI could replace nearly 50% of entry-level office jobs in the next five years. Supporting this view, a report by The Brookings Institution highlighted that jobs like market analysts, sales reps, and graphic designers are highly susceptible to AI automation.
Salesforce’s Chief Financial and Operations Officer, Robin Washington, also confirmed that the company is hiring fewer software engineers due to AI-driven productivity improvements. She added that while AI tools are seen as support systems, they also help reduce the need for large teams.
Marc Benioff described the rise of AI as a “digital work shift,” adding that Salesforce’s AI is now accurate about 93% of the time.
He acknowledged that 100% accuracy may not be possible but noted that Salesforce’s massive data resources allow it to perform better than most competitors.
Many other big tech companies are also moving in the same direction. Companies like CrowdStrike, Klarna, and Amazon are also turning to AI while trimming their workforces. Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy said that AI will help the company reduce the number of jobs in the future.
As the use of AI continues to grow, aspiring software engineers—especially those in India planning to study abroad—may face a more competitive job market. With automation on the rise, the landscape of tech hiring is rapidly evolving.
