Salesforce job cuts 2025: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says artificial intelligence is transforming the way his company works and reshaping its workforce in the process.
In a new episode of the podcast 'The Logan Bartlett Show' released ahead of Labor Day weekend, Benioff revealed that Salesforce has cut around 4,000 customer support roles this year, as per a report. The reason is AI, as it is now handling a significant portion of the company's customer interactions, according to the SF Chronicle.
Benioff said, “I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000 because I need less heads,” as quoted in the report.
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Salesforce, which remains San Francisco’s largest private employer with about 76,000 employees globally, has been pushing aggressively into artificial intelligence, according to the report. Earlier this year, it launched 'Agentforce', an AI-powered support platform that automates a growing share of customer service tasks, as per the SF Chronicle report.
A Salesforce spokesperson told the SF Chronicle, “At the start of this year we deployed help.agentforce.com,” adding, “Because of the benefits and efficiencies of Agentforce, we’ve seen the number of support cases we handle decline and we no longer need to actively backfill support engineer roles," as quoted in the report.
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The firm's spokesperson said that, "We’ve successfully redeployed hundreds of employees into other areas like professional services, sales, and customer success,” as quoted by SF Chronicle.
Even Benioff shared that, “I’ve rebalanced my support head count as I said, so I can now put those heads into sales,” adding, “So I’ve increased my distribution capacity,” as quoted in the report.
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Benioff explained that AI agents, which break down complex tasks into smaller steps and can independently complete assignments, have reshaped the company’s operations, as reported by the SF Chronicle.
He said, “If we were having this conversation a year ago and you were calling Salesforce, there would be 9,000 people that you would be interacting with globally on our service cloud,” as quoted in the report. However, the CEO pointed out that, “These large language models can do a lot of things, but they cannot do everything,” as quoted by the SF Chronicle.
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The company automated a large portion of its customer support with AI, reducing the need for human agents.
What is Agentforce?
Agentforce is Salesforce’s AI-powered customer support platform launched in early 2025.
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AI Leads to 4,000 Job Cuts in Support Roles
In a new episode of the podcast 'The Logan Bartlett Show' released ahead of Labor Day weekend, Benioff revealed that Salesforce has cut around 4,000 customer support roles this year, as per a report. The reason is AI, as it is now handling a significant portion of the company's customer interactions, according to the SF Chronicle.Benioff said, “I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000 because I need less heads,” as quoted in the report.
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Salesforce Bets Big on AI with ‘Agentforce’ Platform
While that may sound harsh, Benioff framed the move as part of a broader and more exciting shift happening inside the San Francisco-based tech giant, according to the report. He called the last eight months “the most exciting” of his career, even though the firm cut thousands of jobs, as per the SF Chronicle.Salesforce, which remains San Francisco’s largest private employer with about 76,000 employees globally, has been pushing aggressively into artificial intelligence, according to the report. Earlier this year, it launched 'Agentforce', an AI-powered support platform that automates a growing share of customer service tasks, as per the SF Chronicle report.
A Salesforce spokesperson told the SF Chronicle, “At the start of this year we deployed help.agentforce.com,” adding, “Because of the benefits and efficiencies of Agentforce, we’ve seen the number of support cases we handle decline and we no longer need to actively backfill support engineer roles," as quoted in the report.
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Some Workers Redeployed to Other Roles, Not Laid Off
However, not all affected employees were let go. Benioff highlighted that Salesforce has been shifting some workers from support into other departments like sales, professional services, and customer success, areas the company sees as growth opportunities, according to the report.The firm's spokesperson said that, "We’ve successfully redeployed hundreds of employees into other areas like professional services, sales, and customer success,” as quoted by SF Chronicle.
Even Benioff shared that, “I’ve rebalanced my support head count as I said, so I can now put those heads into sales,” adding, “So I’ve increased my distribution capacity,” as quoted in the report.
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AI Now Handles Half Of the Customer Interactions At Salesforce
According to the SF Chronicle report, about half of all customer service interactions at Salesforce are now being handled by AI systems, with human agents managing the rest.Benioff explained that AI agents, which break down complex tasks into smaller steps and can independently complete assignments, have reshaped the company’s operations, as reported by the SF Chronicle.
He said, “If we were having this conversation a year ago and you were calling Salesforce, there would be 9,000 people that you would be interacting with globally on our service cloud,” as quoted in the report. However, the CEO pointed out that, “These large language models can do a lot of things, but they cannot do everything,” as quoted by the SF Chronicle.
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AI Helps Salesforce Reconnect with 100 Million Lost Customer Leads
Meanwhile, the shift has also helped Salesforce to reconnect with customers long been overlooked, as for decades, the company failed to return more than 100 million leads due to staffing limits, according to the report. Benioff said that, “We now have an agentic sales that is calling back every person that contacts us,” as quoted by SF Chronicle.FAQs
Why did Salesforce cut 4,000 jobs this year?The company automated a large portion of its customer support with AI, reducing the need for human agents.
What is Agentforce?
Agentforce is Salesforce’s AI-powered customer support platform launched in early 2025.
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