Of course they realize this now.
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After laying off 4,000 employees and automating with AI agents, Salesforce executives admit: We were more confident about…. - The Times of India
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All of us were more confident about large language models a year ago," Parulekar stated, revealing the company's strategic shift away from generative AI toward more predictable "deterministic" automation in its flagship product, Agentforce. This admission comes after Salesforce reportedly reduced its support staff from 9,000 to 5,000 employees—approximately 4,000 roles—through AI agent deployment, as CEO Marc Benioff disclosed in a podcast appearance. According to a report in CNBC, Benioff said while discussing the impact of AI on Salesforce operations, “I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000, because I need less heads.”
The company is now emphasizing that Agentforce can help "eliminate the inherent randomness of large models," marking a significant departure from the AI-first messaging that dominated the industry just months ago.