"AI won’t replace humans…” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he’s hiring thousands of salespeople

Marc Benioff

At a time when most tech companies are talking about replacing jobs with artificial intelligence, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is taking a very different stand, he believes the heart of sales will always be human. Speaking at the company’s annual Dreamforce conference, Benioff said that while AI can assist, it can’t replace the personal touch that defines true salesmanship.

He shared a simple example from a bar at the St. Regis Hotel, where Salesforce customers were connecting and chatting face-to-face or not using chatbots or digital tools. “The bar was filled with our customers, not our people. They were talking, connecting, and going deeper. That’s the human touch,” Benioff said, highlighting why personal connections still matter in business.

Despite Salesforce’s major push into artificial intelligence — the company calls itself the “#1 AI CRM” — Benioff insists that technology should empower people, not replace them. To prove that point, Salesforce is expanding its workforce in a big way. Benioff revealed that the company recently hired between 3,000 and 5,000 new salespeople and plans to grow its sales team to 20,000 account executives this year. The hiring spree also includes engineers, managers, and infrastructure teams.

Salesforce currently employs around 80,000 people, with nearly a quarter of them dedicated to helping customers use its sales tools. The company has also committed $15 billion to workforce development and startup incubation in San Francisco — part of its vision to build what Benioff calls “the world’s AI capital.”

Benioff’s comments echo a growing sentiment among tech leaders who want to assure employees that AI won’t take away all jobs. Like Figma’s CEO Dylan Field, who recently said AI isn’t “coming for you,” Benioff believes that even as AI becomes more capable, it can’t replicate what makes people special.

“Look, we love AI,” he said. “But AI doesn’t have a soul. It’s not that human connectivity. Face-to-face communication will always be essential.”