Salesforce has eliminated 4,000 positions in its customer support team as artificial intelligence increasingly manages a larger portion of its service operations. CEO Marc Benioff disclosed the layoffs during his appearance on the Logan Bartlett podcast, noting that the company has scaled down its support staff from 9,000 to 5,000. Benioff stated, “I was able to rebalance my head count on my support,” emphasizing the necessity for fewer employees. This reduction represents nearly a 45% decrease in the support division of the cloud software company. The decision coincides with Salesforce’s implementation of AI agents, which now oversee approximately half of all customer interactions, leaving human representatives to address the remaining inquiries.
Benioff characterized this transition as “eight of the most exciting months of my career,” underscoring the rapid transformation AI has brought to company operations. The technology has also been introduced in the sales sector.