by Salesforce CEO (CRM) Marc Benioff says agentic AI will be the next big wave of technology.
“We’ve been through the cloud, we’ve been through the mobile phone, we’ve been through the social media, we’ve been through predictive AI,” Benioff said Tuesday at Dreamforce in San Francisco. “And now we’re entering this new agentic AI revolution… and it’s going to be magical.”
In his opening speech for the event, Benioff outlined his vision for how autonomous, “agentic” AI systems will reshape business operations, from marketing to manufacturing.
This optimistic view comes even as Salesforce shares are down more than 27% so far this year, lagging the Nasdaq’s (^IXIC) strong rally.
In the second quarter, Salesforce reported revenue of $10.2 billion, up 10% year over year and slightly above consensus estimates of $10.1 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.91, up 13.7% year over year, better than expectations of $2.78, according to Bloomberg data.
Still, the company lowered its third-quarter revenue guidance to a range of $10.24 billion to $10.29 billion, just below the $10.29 billion consensus, raising questions about the pace of its AI growth initiatives. Salesforce also noted that of the 12,500 Agentforce deals closed since launch, about 6,000 have been paid – a sign that monetization is still in its early stages.
But Benioff pointed to five early adopters: Pandora (PNDORA.CO), PepsiCo. (PEP), FedEx (FDX), Williams-Sonoma (WSM) and Dell (DELL) – evidence that the shift is already happening.
At Williams-Sonoma, agentic AI helps shoppers find recipes and video tutorials tailored to previous purchases. Meanwhile, Pepsi has deployed autonomous models to analyze data and identify growth opportunities.
The opening speech also included a video tribute from the late Jane Goodall, a renowned primatologist and environmentalist, who emphasized that AI could address broader global challenges.
“Business must be a platform for change and a vital source of innovation,” Goodall said in the recorded video.
Benioff framed agentic AI not just as a productivity tool, but as a force that could democratize opportunity across industries. Unlike predictive AI, which analyzes historical trends, agentic systems can act autonomously within organizational workflows, ultimately generating insights, automating tasks and driving decision-making in real time.
“There’s no doubt it’s here,” he said. “You will see it again and again.”
Salesforce has expanded its agentic AI offering to multiple platforms, including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Slack and the Agentforce 360 suite.
