Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced the lay off of 4000 customer support jobs and superseded them with artificial intelligence (AI) agents.
In a conversation on The Logan Bartlett Show podcast on Friday, August 29, 2025, Benioff revealed that the company has significantly reduced its service cloud team from 9,000 to 5,000 employees, as cutting-edge AI tools can efficiently manage half of all support interactions.
"I was able to rebalance my headcount on my support," Benioff stated. "I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000, because I need less heads."
Furthermore, he underscored that this major shift isn’t "dystopian," but instead the latest reality for Salesforce.
This shift has raised concerns and a spike of fear among corporate sectors regarding AI to overtake human jobs.
The company provides AI-driven solutions, including Agentforce, to its clients. A Salesforce spokesperson told FOX Business that the success of Agentforce has decreased support cases, eliminating the need to backfill roles.
Many employees have been redeployed to other departments, including professional services and sales.
Previously, Benioff said that AI now performs 30-50% of Salesforce’s work, covering a range of areas, including customer service, engineering, and coding
For the unversed, Salesforce’s total valuation is $248 billion, and it is among the leading tech companies embracing AI to streamline it’s workflow.
