Salesforce CEO Highlights Need to Bridge AI Adoption Gap at Dreamforce

At Salesforce's Dreamforce conference, CEO Marc Benioff emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between AI innovation and adoption. The event saw the announcement of new tools to help customers build and deploy AI agents more easily. Benioff acknowledged the disparity in AI adoption between consumers and enterprises, stating that Salesforce aims to assist customers in better utilizing AI technology.

Salesforce reported that its 'Agentforce' features have seen rapid adoption, yet only 8% of its customer base currently uses them. This low adoption rate has impacted Salesforce's recent revenue growth. However, the company forecasts increased future revenues, targeting $60 billion in annual sales by 2030.

New features introduced at Dreamforce aim to accelerate AI agent adoption. The 'Agent Builder' simplifies agent setup, while a new voice interface enhances interaction with agents. The 'Agent Script' tool allows for rule-based process establishment.

Salesforce is positioning Slack as the 'conversational gateway' to its software offerings. Slack's CEO described it as an ideal interface for both human and AI agent interactions, suggesting the potential for AI agents to become a front-end for enterprise software.

Salesforce's experience indicates that enterprise adoption of AI agents may lag behind market expectations, offering significant insights into the future trajectory of AI technology.