Marc Benioff warns that AI, while useful, is overrated and partially blames Microsoft.

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, has expressed his enthusiasm for generative artificial intelligence, although he also noted that he does not align with the loud proponents of its potential. In a recent appearance on the Rapid Response podcast, Benioff shared his perspective at a time when the industry is rife with promises about what AI can achieve. Despite his recent promotion of AI at the Dreamforce conference, he is now on a mission to moderate expectations.

During the conversation, Benioff stated that he has never been so excited about something at Salesforce, but he was blunt in warning that false claims have been made about enterprise AI. He partially blames Microsoft, mentioning that the company has done a "tremendous disservice" to the sector and AI research. In particular, he criticized the accuracy and usefulness of Microsoft Copilot, suggesting that its performance resembles that of the controversial Clippy, the famous Office assistant from the 90s.

Benioff also commented on the exaggerations surrounding AI, emphasizing that many claims about curing diseases or solving climate problems are unfounded. In his statements on a social platform, he underscored that Large Language Models are not a direct bridge to Artificial General Intelligence and that the current potential of AI has been overestimated.

A recent Gartner report on Microsoft Copilot revealed that only a quarter of organizations conducting pilot programs plan a large-scale rollout, which, while an encouraging figure for this emerging technology, indicates that enterprise adoption is still slow. However, some studies have also shown clear benefits for small businesses using Copilot, although these reports were sponsored by Microsoft.

Benioff acknowledges that while GenAI is impressive, it is not yet ready to fully replace human work. He highlighted that one of the areas where AI seems to be achieving significant success is in AI agents, a field that aligns with Salesforce's recent Agentforce product, which other companies are also actively exploring.

The applications of AI agents are growing, especially in customer service and sales. Benioff is convinced that Salesforce could have over a billion agents operating within the next year. However, there are also sectors where Large Language Models are valued, such as programmer support through tools like Microsoft GitHub Copilot.

Microsoft's strong connection with OpenAI allows it to stay at the forefront of using GenAI models, suggesting that its influence in this field goes beyond simple applications. In discussing the need to manage expectations while harnessing AI capabilities, Benioff points out that caution is essential in a landscape where technology can often be overstated.