Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Defends AI Strategy Amid Stock Decline
Marc Benioff rejected claims that AI will make Salesforce irrelevant, detailing a shift toward AI-driven digital labor and consumption-based pricing.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has rejected Wall Street concerns that artificial intelligence will render the company's platform irrelevant. Benioff maintains that his vision for an "agentic enterprise" is correct, positioning AI as digital labor capable of executing multistep tasks rather than as a commoditized feature.
To support this transition, Salesforce is moving its business model away from traditional seat-based pricing toward consumption metrics. The company introduced Agentic Work Units to measure task completion, tying revenue directly to the work performed by AI agents.
Despite a stock decline of over 30% in 2026 and acknowledged risks surrounding regulatory shifts and AI integration, the company reports significant growth in its Agentforce product. Annual recurring revenue for Agentforce grew 169% year-over-year to $800 million, with 29,000 deals closed.
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