Microsoft and Salesforce’s AI agent conflict is getting severe. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, in a latest podcast, criticised Microsoft’s Copilot. “This Copilot factor has been an enormous catastrophe for them from a branding and validation standpoint. Prospects don’t take a look at them and don’t take them critically in AI,” Benioff mentioned.
He was responding to Microsoft Chief Satya Nadella, who not too long ago, in a podcast, not directly took a dig at Salesforce by saying that conventional SaaS corporations will collapse within the AI agent period. “I believe the notion that enterprise purposes exist—that’s in all probability the place they’ll all collapse, proper, within the agent period. As a result of if you concentrate on it, proper, they’re primarily CRUD databases with a bunch of enterprise logic,” he mentioned.
“Enterprise logic is all going to those brokers, and these brokers are going to be multi-repo CRUD. They’re not going to discriminate between what the again finish is; they’re going to replace a number of databases, and all of the logic will likely be within the AI tier,” Nadella added.
Moreover, Benioff expressed his scepticism about Microsoft’s strategy to integrating AI into its enterprise choices, significantly by means of its Copilot initiative.
“Microsoft has disenchanted all people with how they’ve approached this sort of AI world,” Benioff mentioned. He prompt that Copilot, which includes OpenAI know-how into Microsoft’s merchandise has didn’t ship transformative outcomes for patrons.
“Prospects usually are not discovering themselves remodeled with this Copilot know-how,” Benioff mentioned. He added, “I’ve spoken to those prospects, they barely use it, and that’s provided that they don’t have already got a ChatGPT license or one thing like that in entrance of them.”
Benioff mentioned Salesforce is making progress within the AI area, highlighting the corporate’s deal with delivering an “agentic platform” that’s already in manufacturing and broadly adopted by enterprise prospects. “We’re delivering this at scale globally to our prospects,” he mentioned, including that Salesforce is presently dealing with two trillion enterprise AI transactions per week.
He prompt that Microsoft’s AI technique has not resonated with enterprise prospects, claiming, “Prospects don’t take a look at them and don’t take them critically in AI, nor ought to they, as a result of they’re not even making the AI themselves.”
Benioff additionally commented on Microsoft’s enterprise technique, accusing the corporate of being a “quick follower” within the software program trade. “I’m positive they’ll attempt to copy our stuff like they often do and transfer in direction of us, however we’re on the market proper now in manufacturing with 1000’s of consumers,” he mentioned.
On the latest Microsoft AI Tour in Bengaluru, Nadella mentioned that “constructing brokers must be so simple as making a spreadsheet”. He launched a no-code platform referred to as Copilot Studio that enables customers to create new brokers primarily based on their wants.
“Consider AI as a co-pilot in your work. It’s the UI for AI,” Nadella mentioned, illustrating the function it is going to play as an interface between workers and the AI. He gave the instance of an AI agent in a healthcare setting, describing a state of affairs the place a physician prepares for a tumour board assembly, and the AI creates the agenda, prioritises instances, and takes detailed notes throughout the dialogue.
In the meantime, Salesforce launched Agentforce 2.0 final month, an upgraded model of its digital labour platform designed to enhance enterprise groups with autonomous AI brokers.
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