Marc Benioff Challenges Narrative: What AI Are They Using For These Big Layoffs?

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is striking a skeptical chord when it comes to the prevailing narrative that artificial intelligence is the direct cause of widespread layoffs across the tech industry. While many company leaders are citing AI and "efficiency gains" as reasons for workforce reductions, Benioff says he keeps asking his peers a pointed question: "What AI are they using for these big layoffs?"

Benioff's remarks, made during a recent visit to London, challenge prominent AI executives, including Anthropic's Dario Amodei, who have warned of significant white-collar job displacement due to AI. Benioff's stance is rooted in his belief that AI primarily augments human capabilities rather than outright replacing them.

Salesforce's AI Approach: Augmentation, Not Replacement

Salesforce itself has been an aggressive adopter of AI agents, with the technology now handling a substantial portion of its internal workload. According to Benioff, AI agents are managing 30% to 50% of all work at Salesforce, including 85% of customer service inquiries and qualifying sales leads 40% faster than human workers. This "digital labor revolution," as he calls it, is yielding "amazing results."


Despite these dramatic efficiency gains and a pause in hiring for certain roles like engineers, support staff, and lawyers, Benioff insists that Salesforce is not planning mass layoffs due to AI. Instead, the company is focusing on:

Redeploying Employees: Salesforce has reportedly redeployed over 50% of its workforce to new roles in recent months, helping them adapt to the evolving AI-driven environment.

Reskilling: The company is utilizing its Trailhead training platform to reskill employees, equipping them for new opportunities that emerge alongside AI adoption.

Human Oversight: Benioff emphasizes AI's limitations, particularly its accuracy. He stated that while Salesforce's AI reaches about 90% accuracy with its proprietary data, "it's not 100%. So you need the human in the loop." He added, "Every AI needs its own fact checker, and those fact checkers are humans, not AIs, because AIs can't fact check because they don't have that level of accuracy."

AI as a Job Creator and Business Enabler?

Rather than forecasting mass unemployment, Benioff predicts that AI will trigger an "explosion of small and medium businesses." He believes AI will democratize access to enterprise-level tools, making it easier for individuals and smaller entities to create value and expand their capabilities. "There's going to potentially be a lot more employment because everybody is augmented and has the ability to do more," he told Fortune.

While Salesforce has paused some hiring, it is actively recruiting salespeople and customer success employees, roles crucial for helping clients effectively adopt AI technology. Benioff's personal use of AI also highlights its role as a collaborative partner, aiding in strategic planning and identifying gaps in thinking.


The Broader Layoff Picture

Benioff's comments come at a time when other tech CEOs are explicitly linking layoffs to AI investments and efficiency drives. Companies like Workday, Autodesk, CrowdStrike, and even India's Tata Consultancy Services have cited shifts to AI-focused strategies as reasons for recent workforce reductions. Industry reports, including one from Indeed, show a significant decrease in tech job postings since 2020, with AI cited as one contributing factor, alongside a cooling of the pandemic-era hiring boom.


However, experts also point out that the narrative is more complex. Often, companies are restructuring to fund massive AI infrastructure investments (data centers, chips) and improve overall efficiency, rather than directly replacing roles with AI. As Bryan Hayes, a strategist at Zacks, noted, there's a "double-edged sword" of restructuring in the AI age, balancing headcount with AI adoption.

Benioff's direct challenge to the "AI-caused-layoff" narrative forces a deeper look at how companies are truly integrating AI and whether current workforce reductions are a direct result of AI replacement or broader economic and strategic shifts. His vision positions AI not as a job destroyer, but as a powerful augmenter of human potential and a catalyst for new business creation.