Salesforce has significantly cut another 4,000 jobs from its customer support workforce as the tech giant doubles artificial intelligence.
The latest layoffs have hampered Salesforce’s customer service department, reducing its employees from 9,000 to 5,000. AI agents are reportedly currently handling conversations from around 1 million customers.
In a recent episode of the Logan Bartlett Show, CEO Marc Benioff justified the cut by saying that Salesforce has invested heavily in AI across its operations, “need to have less brains.”
Earlier this year, Benioff boasted that AI is already doing 30-50% of its work, and configured it as an increase in efficiency.
On Wednesday, Slack owners reported revenues for the quarter ending July 31 at $10.2 billion, up 10% from the same period last year. The company also announced a $20 billion increase in its stock buyback plans.
“These results reflect the success of customers, such as Pfizer, Marriott and the US Army. They are transforming into agents companies that work side-by-side to rethink workflows, drive productivity and bring customer success,” Benioff said.
“We have surpassed all financial targets, achieved an operating margin expansion for the 10th consecutive quarter, provided strong returns to our customers and shareholders, and maximized value.”
However, business software providers expect current quarterly revenue to fall below Wall Street estimates as clients dial back spending on enterprise cloud products due to macroeconomic uncertainties.
The San Francisco, California-based company’s shares fell more than 4% in trading after Bell.
With its annual compensation package valued at $55 million, Benioff has openly embraced automation as a central pillar of the future of the Salesforce, even if thousands lose their jobs. He calls the last year of AI expansion “the most exciting eight months of my career” and claims it’s worth celebrating.
This is nothing new to Salesforce. In early 2023, Benioff oversaw a massive layoff of 7,000 workers. This was about 10% of the company’s global workforce, but in the second half of the year the cloud computing giant hired 3,000 workers.
Mixed Messages
“Just a few months ago, they (Salesforce) downplayed the AI threat to their work. The latest actions raise important questions about trust in the sector. It is extremely damaging and creates a terrifying environment among the wider workforce in the industry.”
In July, Benioff repeated that softer lines that claimed softer lines would “enhance” rather than replace people. A day before announcing the layoff, he doubled that sense of security with X’s post.
“The future of our agents is not pre-determined. If AI replaces human judgment, creativity and empathy, we will diminish ourselves,” he wrote.
“This is a very important signal that we’re talking to the technology sector in the biggest AI-driven layoffs to date and could have a mimicry effect across the sector,” Mirza said.
“The confusion is rising every day and we are making sure it continues.”
Salesforce is not alone. Recruit Holdings, the parent company of Endy and Glassdoor, cut 1,300 jobs during its AI shift in July. Klarna fired 40% of the workforce earlier this year. Duolingo announced in April that it would halt contractor employment and replace them with AI.
“Internally (in Salesforce), these reductions can be read as a way to maximize efficiency and ultimately maximize shareholder value. But companies are at risk if they cut too deeply in junior positions.
That concern is widely shared across the industry. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Outlet Axios earlier this year that AI could eliminate half of the entry-level white-collar work.
In the “highly exposed” sector, opportunities for workers aged 22-25 decreased by 13% from October 2022 to July 2025. In particular, the effects have been further amplified. Software engineering opportunities have declined by 20%, according to a new study from Stanford University.
Salesforce did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
