Marc Benioff on AI Layoffs and Why Salesforce Says It’s Different

Very few things are certain with artificial intelligence, but one uncomfortable truth prevails: as AI gets smarter, the need for certain workers decreases. And, in a world of tight budgets and profit chasing, that translates to layoffs – often in the masses. 

However, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is insistent that Salesforce’s AI will not lead to mass white-collar layoffs, but what exactly makes Salesforce so different? 

Understanding the AI-Driven Layoffs

Layoffs are an unfortunate but inevitable part of a company’s lifecycle, especially as it changes, adapts, and grows in response to shifting markets. We saw this come to fruition in the post-COVID crash, especially in the tech space, where stakeholders and business owners were suddenly crowded around tables saying, “We hired too many people and we now cannot afford to pay them all”.

However, five years on from the pandemic, it is clear that we are largely out of that stage. Now, we are in a new era: one where businesses are both uplifted and disrupted by the rise of AI. 

The first few months of 2025 set the stage for a plethora of tech layoffs, with companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce laying off numerous employees. Just last month, it was announced that Microsoft would be cutting up to 9,000 workers in addition to the 6,000 they had laid off earlier in the year. 

Layoffs.fyi estimates that more than 80,000 people have been laid off in the tech sector this year, with everyone from the biggest industry leaders to companies like Intel, TikTok, Pluralsight, Chegg, and more being affected. 

Now, you might question how AI comes into the equation – after all, quarterly and annual restructuring is fairly normal, especially in tech. However, if you consider the context – especially some of these aforementioned companies’ AI results – then the picture suddenly gets much clearer. 

For example, Microsoft and Intel have both experienced strong results in AI sales and performance, providing them with a clear direction to head in going forward. Microsoft have also admitted that heavy spending on AI influenced its layoffs decisions. 

Can AI Replace a Human Worker?

If you take a look at it at a more granular level, you see how individual roles and jobs are being impacted. Look at IBM – their AI HR agent, AskHR, is taking over basic internal HR functions. Duolingo – even despite the company’s initial backlash surrounding its AI decisions – has triumphed in earnings and results thanks to AI. 

Business leaders are discovering ways to help people do more for less, and if they can tap into a solution that works for them, benefits like reduced operating costs suddenly become a lot more enticing than large, multiscale teams. 

There Go Company Profits

At the heart of all this AI-driven movement, you’ll continually see two key words: growth and efficiency. The golden beacon for tech companies across the board is the utilization of AI for efficiency and growth, which provides even more reason why it’s not going away any time soon. After all, growth and efficiency = more profit opportunities.

If you go onto the “Why We’re Doing This” section of CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz’s announcement of 5% job cuts, you’ll see Kurtz announcing that the company has to intensify its commitment to AI investments to “accelerate execution and efficiency.” 

This story is not unique either – Workday’s CEO Carl Eschenbach asked the company’s recently laid-off employees to think about the bigger picture, saying: “Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.”

ITSM giant ServiceNow also recently claimed that it was on track to gain $100M in savings on its global headcount this year due to the internal implementation of AI – an impressive number, especially as ServiceNow’s AI investments grow. 

Is Marc Benioff’s Vision Rose-Tinted? 

While increased spending and focus on artificial intelligence have contributed at least partially to recent tech layoffs, Benioff maintains that this is not the situation at Salesforce. He has insisted that AI will be used to augment rather than replace the workforce, stating that current AI doesn’t have this kind of power.

“In the AI I have, it’s not going to be some huge mass layoff of white collar workers,” he said. “It is a radical augmentation of the workforce.”

When asked about recent tech layoffs being attributed to AI, he went on to say that AI is likely not the reason at all. 

“When I speak with our customers, they’re not saying, ‘I’m laying off employees because of AI advancements in A, B, or C technologies,’” he said. “That fear – we need to let it go.”

Although other tech leaders like Nvidia’s CEO and Anthropic’s CEO vehemently disagree with Benioff’s thoughts –  claiming that AI could replace jobs en masse if companies fail to innovate – Bryan Hayes, a strategist at Zacks Investment Research, agrees that although the layoffs shouldn’t be ignored, they’re not the final result. 

“Will AI replace some of these jobs? Absolutely,” he said. “But it’s also going to create a lot of jobs. Employees who are able to leverage artificial intelligence and help the companies innovate and create new products and services are going to be the ones that are in high demand.”

Market intelligence firm Lightcast also recently revealed that job postings searching for AI skills in tech roles remain consistent, and the postings for non-tech roles that require AI are on the rise.

In fact, its latest “Beyond the Buzz” report revealed that these postings offer 28% higher salaries – an average of nearly $18,000 more per year.

What Makes Salesforce Special?

However, it does still pose the question: what makes Salesforce different from Google, Microsoft, Workday, or any of its other competitors? Benioff’s word is the one force at play here, and the company’s layoffs do throw all of his statements into question. 

In February, it was revealed that Salesforce would be cutting 1000 jobs. This came shortly after the company announced it would be undertaking a hiring spree of sales roles in order to meet the requirements of its primary AI offering, Agentforce. Although Salesforce has also pledged to hire more than 1000 new employees to support the selling of Agentforce, these layoffs were directly linked to AI.

This is something that Benioff also referenced in a recent interview, stating that Salesforce would be working to maximize its AI engineering productivity gains.

“Right now, for engineering organizations, because of the incredible productivity opportunity for AI in engineering this year, let’s take some time to actually incorporate that in so we’re not focused on hiring another 1000, 2000, 3000 engineers,” he said.

Although Salesforce has not publicly announced any further layoffs since, even February’s layoffs indicate that the company is not immune to them, and that AI’s role is simmering under the surface. 

Whether or not this is an augmentation or replacement effort is another matter, but as Salesforce gears towards Dreamforce and new AI advancements, that picture will likely become clearer.

Final Thoughts: What Does the Future Hold?

Salesforce began the year with mass layoffs – with reasons pointing largely to the pursuit of AI – and although the company has not announced any further layoffs since, it still puts Benioff’s sentiments into question. 

Whether anyone likes it or not, the rising intelligence, breadth, and power of artificial intelligence have and will continue to have an impact on hiring, restructuring, and layoffs in the tech industry. 

If companies can utilize a blended workforce – and what Salesforce likes to call “digital labor” – of AI and human employees, then the impact will be lessened. However, if a company rushes forward with just an AI initiative and a dream, the blow it will deliver will be felt significantly.

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