This is despite his company recently eliminating 4,000 customer support positions in favour of AI agents.
Speaking on TBPN, Benioff insisted that artificial intelligence cannot replace human salespeople because it lacks the irreplaceable value of face-to-face communication.
Despite Salesforce’s aggressive adoption of AI, the company is now recruiting between 3,000 and 5,000 new salespeople, aiming to expand to 20,000 account executives this year.
However, this comes as the company recently made a raft of job cuts, impacting over 4,000 employees, thanks to the use of AI agents.
Earlier this month, the technology giant’s CEO said AI improves productivity by handling sales leads that used to be ignored. As a result, Salesforce’s support staff has decreased from 9,000 to 5,000 employees.
“It’s been eight of the most exciting months of my career,” Benioff said. “I was able to rebalance my head count on my support. I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000 because I need less heads,” he said.
This comes as the wave of job cuts in the tech and telecoms sector shows no signs of slowing, with new data revealing that 26,215 employees have already been laid off in 2025.
According to a report by RationalFX, which compiled layoff announcements from multiple sources, at least 80 tech firms- primarily based in the United States- have slashed jobs since the start of the year.
An additional 40 companies have also announced reductions or shutdowns, though specific figures remain unconfirmed.
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