Jabs in Silicon Valley: Salesforce CEO Benioff Criticizes Microsoft

The busy everyday life in Silicon Valley wouldn't be the same without leading tech executives poking fun at each other. In the latest round, the CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, is engaged in one of his usual activities—a jab at Microsoft's AI product. According to Benioff, we shouldn't be distracted by the buzz around AI unless it's coming from him: "Microsoft disappoints many of our customers," he stated in an interview with Business Insider. "They have disappointed with excessive PR around their AI solutions." Benioff, of course, has a stake in the matter as he questions the effectiveness of Microsoft's AI Copilot. Coincidentally, Microsoft announced the introduction of ten new AI agents for Dynamics 365—a direct competitor to the soon-to-be-available Salesforce product, Agentforce—just a day before this interview. This will be generally accessible from Friday. Further substantiating his criticism, Benioff remarked, "Microsoft struggles to respond to customers that achieve success with their AI solutions." These comments follow harsh criticism he expressed two weeks prior in a podcast called Rapid Response. There, he said Microsoft had "done a tremendous disservice not only to the entire industry but also to AI research as a whole." Microsoft countered the criticism by pointing to its customer data, noting that almost 60% of Fortune 500 companies use Copilot. In fact, Microsoft's customer base appears to be growing despite Benioff's harsh words. The share of regular Copilot users nearly doubled last quarter. Benioff is convinced of AI's potential, though not of its marketing. "I have never been as excited about something at Salesforce, perhaps in my entire career," he said on the Rapid Response podcast, adding that he believes AI will forever change businesses, Salesforce, and software. However, AI assistants have yet to revolutionize the world as promised. Many systems struggle with so-called "hallucinations" and program errors—making the whole situation somewhat resemble the tech-driven version of "The Emperor's New Clothes," as CEOs blame one another and shift timelines on promises of innovation.