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Salesforce Expands Agentforce with AI Voice Support Ahead of Dreamforce Conference

October 13, 2025 - Salesforce has announced a major upgrade to its Agentforce AI customer service suite with the introduction of Agentforce Voice, enabling companies to handle customer service calls using AI-powered voice agents.

Unveiled ahead of the annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Agentforce Voice allows businesses to customize voice tone, speed, and pronunciation, as well as permit interruptions during live calls, Salesforce revealed on Monday. The feature expands the capabilities of Agentforce, which initially supported only text chat interactions.

With over 12,000 implementations, Agentforce is part of Salesforce’s broader push into generative AI. Voice technology is rapidly gaining momentum within this space, following the rise of text-based tools like ChatGPT, which debuted in late 2022. In the past year, leading AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic have integrated natural-sounding voice capabilities into their chatbots—a trend now entering enterprise software.

Agentforce Voice will be compatible with corporate phone systems from Amazon, Five9, Genesys, Nice, and Vonage, part of Ericsson.

Rising Competition in AI Customer Service

The update positions Salesforce against emerging competitors like Sierra, co-founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor. Launched in 2023, Sierra's AI agents also offer phone-based customer support. The startup, valued at $10 billion, serves clients including ADT, SiriusXM, and SoFi.

Despite its innovations, Salesforce is facing investor concerns over the potential impact of AI on the traditional software market. The company's stock has dropped approximately 28% in 2025, compared to a 15% gain in the Nasdaq.

Adding to competitive pressures, Anthropic recently claimed its Claude Sonnet 4.5 model built a Slack-like chat app in just 30 hours. In its latest earnings call, Salesforce acknowledged that new AI tools “may disrupt workforce needs and negatively impact demand for our offerings.”

Benioff Dismisses AI Disruption Fears

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff downplayed fears of massive AI-driven shifts, telling CNBC’s Morgan Brennan:

“When we get into this kind of zero-sum game, well, all this is going to get wiped out, or all this is going to change, then, you know, you’re not dealing with somebody who actually runs a company… Business is incremental, it’s evolutionary, it’s growing, it’s evolving, and we don’t see that kind of change.”

Originally launched in 2024, Agentforce was designed to automate text-based customer service with the help of large language models. While adoption has reached 12,000 instances, some analysts remain cautious.

“Investor enthusiasm around Agentforce has moderated as adoption has lagged expectations,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note last week. They currently recommend holding Salesforce stock.

Looking ahead, Salesforce plans to release early access to Agent Script in November, allowing organizations to further customize AI agent responses and workflows.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/13/salesforce-adds-voice-to-agentforce-ai-customer-service-software.html

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Critiques Palantir's Pricing Strategy: ‘Maybe I’m Not Charging Enough’

September 15, 2025 - Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently took a swipe at Palantir's software pricing, hinting that the company's cost structure may be overly inflated. Speaking during an interview, Benioff remarked on Palantir’s high software prices in comparison to Salesforce’s offerings, even as Palantir secures major government contracts and boasts robust revenue.

“I am so inspired by that company,” Benioff said. “But when I look at how much they charge—and their revenue—maybe I’m not charging enough. Maybe I’ll raise my prices.”

Benioff's remarks came during an episode of CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” where he acknowledged Palantir's success under CEO Alex Karp but raised eyebrows at the firm’s approach. Palantir, known for its data analytics software widely used in defense and government sectors, reported over $2.2 billion in revenue for 2024 and has forecasted $2.68 billion in 2025.

Salesforce, meanwhile, generated over $9 billion in Q2 revenue alone and maintains a broader enterprise client base with a diverse product suite across CRM, cloud, and AI.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-takes-a-jab-at-palantirs-software-costs-maybe-im-not-charging-enough/articleshow/123894918.cms

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Justifies 4,000 AI-Driven Layoffs, Calls It 'Most Exciting Months' of His Career

September 2, 2025 - Salesforce has significantly reduced its customer support workforce, cutting 4,000 roles as part of a strategic shift toward artificial intelligence (AI). CEO Marc Benioff confirmed the move on the Logan Bartlett Podcast, stating the support team had been downsized from 9,000 to 5,000 employees.

“I was able to rebalance my headcount on my support. I reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000 because I needed fewer heads,” Benioff said, highlighting a nearly 45% reduction in support staff.

This announcement marks a sharp departure from Benioff’s stance just two months earlier. In a July interview with Fortune, he emphasized that AI would enhance—not replace—human roles, saying, “the humans are not going away.” At the time, he dismissed fears about AI-induced job losses and underscored the need for human oversight, asserting, “AIs can’t fact check.”

Benioff had also criticized projections by AI leaders like Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, who foresaw widespread displacement in white-collar sectors. Now, Salesforce’s pivot shows how swiftly AI’s evolving capabilities are reshaping corporate strategies.

Beyond customer support, Salesforce is leveraging AI in its sales operations. The company has addressed a longstanding backlog of over 100 million sales leads accumulated over 26 years.

“We now have an agentic sales that is calling back every person that contacts us,” Benioff said. The firm has implemented an “omnichannel supervisor” to manage workload distribution between AI systems and human agents, ensuring tasks requiring human intervention are properly flagged.

In July, Benioff also noted that Salesforce had no immediate plans to expand hiring for engineers, service reps, or legal staff. Instead, the company was prioritizing the expansion of its sales team to assist clients in adopting AI-driven solutions.

With a workforce of over 76,000 at the beginning of 2025, the 4,000 job cuts represent approximately 5% of Salesforce’s global headcount, reflecting the rapid pace at which AI is transforming workforce dynamics.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/salesforce-layoffs-4000-jobs-ai-replaces-customer-support-marc-benioff-10225552/