Salesforce CEO Benioff: Salesforce Can Beat Microsoft at AI

Microsoft has invested billions in AI and plans to reopen a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania to power the technology. Still, Marc Benioff, CEO of enterprise competitor Salesforce, says that Microsoft’s efforts aren’t enough and that Microsoft has actually done a “tremendous disservice” to the AI industry.

“When you look at how Copilot has been sold to our customers, it’s disappointing,” Benioff said in an episode of the Masters of Scale Rapid Response podcast earlier this month. “It doesn’t work, it spews data all over the floors, it doesn’t deliver value to customers. I haven’t found a customer who has transformational work with Copilot.”

Benioff said that Salesforce customers were “so confused” because of how Microsoft had delivered AI.

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“Copilot is really the new Microsoft Clippy,” Benioff said, referring to the paperclip-shaped office assistant that Microsoft discontinued in 2007. “I don’t think Copilot will be around, I don’t think customers will use it.” Salesforce is a Microsoft competitor.

^{Marc Benioff. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Microsoft says that companies like Visa, Honda, and Pfizer are using Copilot.

Microsoft has made several high-profile AI investments, including a $13 billion investment in OpenAI.

Related: Salesforce CEO Says the Company’s New AI Agents Could Replace Human Jobs