Salesforce, the global cloud software giant, has laid off 4,000 customer support employees—nearly 45% of its support division—as artificial intelligence (AI) systems increasingly take over customer-facing operations.
The announcement was made by CEO Marc Benioff during a recent appearance on the Logan Bartlett podcast, where he described the move as part of a broader shift toward AI-driven efficiency.
The company reduced its support headcount from 9,000 to 5,000, citing the growing role of AI agents in managing customer interactions.
“I was able to rebalance my head count on my support,” Marc said, adding that AI now handles approximately 50% of all customer conversations.
AI Agents Now Handle Half of Customer Interactions at Salesforce
Salesforce’s AI systems have rapidly evolved to manage routine customer service tasks, allowing human agents to focus on more complex issues.
The company uses an “omnichannel supervisor” framework that coordinates between AI and human agents, ensuring seamless task handoffs when AI reaches its operational limits.
Marc likened the system to Tesla’s autopilot, which prompts human intervention when needed.
“AI knows when it can’t handle something and passes it to a human,” he explained, emphasizing the hybrid nature of the model.
Shift Extends Beyond Support: AI Tackles Sales Backlog
The impact of AI at Salesforce goes beyond customer service.
Marc revealed that the company is using “agentic sales” systems to address a backlog of over 100 million uncalled leads accumulated over 26 years.
These AI-powered systems are now actively reaching out to potential customers, a task previously constrained by staffing limitations.
This expansion into sales operations demonstrates how AI is not only replacing existing roles but also enabling new capabilities that were previously unfeasible due to resource constraints.
Contradiction with Earlier Statements on AI and Jobs
The layoffs mark a notable shift from Marc’s earlier stance on AI’s impact on employment.
In July 2025, he stated in a Fortune interview that AI would augment rather than replace workers, dismissing fears of mass white-collar displacement.
“The humans are not going away,” he had said at the time.
However, the recent restructuring suggests a more complex reality.
While AI has boosted productivity, it has also led to significant job reductions, raising concerns about the pace and scale of automation in corporate environments.
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