Reporting from the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi holds a wide-ranging discussion on artificial intelligence with Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff, who says AI “can make people a lot better”.
Benioff outlines an Italian Gucci call center case showing AI systems boosting worker productivity and revenue by 30%. By handling routine requests, the technology enabled employees to become more versatile “Gucci everything agents” - demonstrating the potential to spawn "digital people" rather than prompt replacement.
However, Benioff warns of rising threats like misinformation and data theft rendering AI “a creator of inequality” - saying access to transparent, accountable AI should constitute “a human right”. With minimal governmental AI oversight currently, he presses regulators to “take this really seriously” in 2024 given deployment is accelerating rapidly.
On healthcare, Benioff shares a personal example of AI analyzing his cardiac CT - making world-class diagnostics accessible to general practitioners globally. While he notes the tech "is not perfect," he says its democratization promises wider care gains just by implementing artificial intelligence.
Benioff also discusses climate change efforts, stressing his belief that businesses can simultaneously chase profits and purpose through sustainability. He argues that by innovating around problems like emissions and biodiversity, “business can be the greatest platform for change” stating, "business doesn't have to be just business, it can be about improving the world."
It's all part of Yahoo Finance's exclusive coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where our team will speak to top decision-makers as well as preeminent leaders in business, finance, and politics about the world’s most pressing issues and priorities for the coming year.
Watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here.
Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: All right, lots of talk about all things AI and the future of AI here at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Let me just get right to it really, I would say a foremost thinker in all things AI, that is Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff. Marc, it's just nice to see you. Thanks for making time for us.
MARC BENIOFF: Brian, it's always great to be with you--
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, it's great.
MARC BENIOFF: --all over the world.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, seriously. We were at Dreamforce. Felt like yesterday. So, thank you. Has anything surprised you about the AI talk here at Davos? Or at this point, you've just seen and done it all?
MARC BENIOFF: Well, there's basically, you have AI technologists here at Davos who've got all their whiz bang, great new party tricks, things they can do-- take a look at this, it's like David Blaine type, you know? You know what I mean? Like look at this--
BRIAN SOZZI: I don't even know how to use some of this stuff.
MARC BENIOFF: Yeah, like it's amazing. And then, you have CEOs. And CEOs are like, listen, we want to know-- what about margin? What about productivity? What about higher value customer relationships? And that idea and how do those two things come together-- that's kind of the conversation that's really happening here.
And I'm trying to tell stories and explain to customers what we're seeing with AI. And I think that as we have been kind of traveling around, we see so many exciting opportunities with AI that customers are going to get much higher margins.
BRIAN SOZZI: Last year at Davos, AI was still a little bit on the fringes. Not for you. I mean, you're seeing these things many years in advance. This year, I'm sensing like deeper things happening with AI. What have you been seeing? Like what's the next iteration of all this?
MARC BENIOFF: Well, we've been building our Einstein platform for a decade. You know that. We've talked about Einstein dozens and dozens of times. This week, Einstein will do one trillion transactions, which is predictive and generative transactions now, which is really cool. And customers are using it.
I just was in Milan with Gucci, and very-- part of the Kering group, incredible company. And they're like, hey, we want to use AI in our call center. And it's like, wait, what do they really want to do here? Is this about augmentation? Is it about replacement? Is it-- what are we looking at?
And what was cool was we brought in generative AI into our Service Cloud, one of the number one customer service call center contact center product in the world, as you know. And these agents are using it. And we are running this program for now a few months, OK.
And they said something amazing has happened. And I said what. And they go number one, revenue is up 30%. I said, wow. That's amazing. Now this is a center that-- in Milan, you buy a product, Gucci product all over the world, and it's not something's wrong with it or you need it changed and so forth. They help resolve that issue for you. It's about 300 people. It's a great group of people. Incredible.
And they found that by using AI, their employees started to become more augmented, better. Service agents could start to sell and to market. That is really cool that all of a sudden that these Gucci call center agents are Gucci sales agents, Gucci everything agents. And the AI gave them the information, the capability, the workflow to be able to do all kinds of amazing new things. That's an exciting story.
BRIAN SOZZI: When you're in that Gucci call center, when you leave there, do you think, man, maybe I won't see that employee next time because of AI. Where is your head at after a visit such like that?
MARC BENIOFF: There's no question that where AI is going is digital employees, digital salespeople, digital service--
BRIAN SOZZI: Digital people?
MARC BENIOFF: Digital marketing. Digital people, yeah. That idea that we're going to have people like me and you, and there's going to be digital people. Maybe one day I'm going to walk into the Yahoo room and I'm going to be interviewed by the AI instead of Brian. I don't know.
BRIAN SOZZI: I need to make it to my retirement, Marc.
MARC BENIOFF: But Brian, here's the point--
BRIAN SOZZI: OK, go.
MARC BENIOFF: That's not true today.
BRIAN SOZZI: OK.
MARC BENIOFF: So in today's world, that's not where AI is. We know that AI has got a lot of problems still. Like it lies, you know.
BRIAN SOZZI: Hallucinations-- you gave me that term. I never heard of hallucinations--
MARC BENIOFF: Hallucinating, it's lying, it's built on stolen data. There's all kinds of problems with AI still. So those issues need to get worked out over time. But we've all seen the science fiction movies. We know where AI could go. But right now, AI can really make people a lot better.
And you know that I'm a huge Disney fan boy. And this year, I've been to Disneyland four times, OK. And every time I'm there-- and I work with Disney all over the company. And if you go to the Disney store online, that's Salesforce. And you talk to the call center at Disney Plus, that's Salesforce.
And if you go to Disneyland, and you are-- you hire one of those Disney guides, those are the people who help you get through the park a little faster. It was like invented by Walt Disney, it's like the coolest product. For years, I've worked with them.
And now, you'll see they're carrying a telephone with them. And if you look down at the phone, you'll see-- Oh, wait, wait, Brian says-- the whole system record, everything is Salesforce and Slack. They're all talking to all the other Disney guides, collaborating. And they're all better because of Einstein and AI.
BRIAN SOZZI: That's like wild.
MARC BENIOFF: It's augmenting them.
BRIAN SOZZI: That's wild for you, Marc as a co-founder. I think back 10 years where the company was-- now 10 years forward today, to see that type of technology.
MARC BENIOFF: Well, it's completely cool. And I have a vision that-- my dream is one day I walk into the park-- and I've opted in somehow. And I've said, I want to be part of this idea. But I was watching "The Mandalorian" last night on Disney Plus, and as I walk into the park-- Anaheim or Tokyo or Euro or wherever it is-- and "The Mandalorian" walks up to me and says, hey, Marc, how did you like that last night? That's weird. That's where I'm like--
BRIAN SOZZI: That's so weird.
MARC BENIOFF: --home run, finally.
BRIAN SOZZI: We made it.
MARC BENIOFF: Making the connection. And I think for some people, that's going to be a little spooky. And then for me, it's going to be very kind of cool, because I actually understand the data parts of it. And I think that that's a great opportunity for Disney. That will be a next level of the Disney Parks.
BRIAN SOZZI: How-- I didn't know how to phrase this-- so how concerned are you about a world of digital people? Like to me, it is spooky.
MARC BENIOFF: Well, I think there's a lot of different ways to think about it. And one of the-- I pay a lot attention to my health. I think you know that. And so, I get a CT scan of my heart. It's called the CTA scan. I've had like 3 over 15 years. So they look inside your heart and how is it doing.
And 15 years ago, I went to LA to this great scanning center. Met with this person who invented the calcium scoring. He did it. He was like, oh, you're fine, fine. Come back five years. Here, yes, here it is. We're going to watch this. You're older now, you know. And then I did it a couple of years ago, and they're like yes, you're doing great. We're still watching that. Great.
Then, this year, they took that same CTA scan, and they're able to put it into an AI.
BRIAN SOZZI: Wild.
MARC BENIOFF: And then the AI said the same thing. And why that's exciting is yes, I can go to LA and meet with the guy who invented calcium scoring. Incredible person. But think about all the people in the world who have access to a CT scanner-- we just saw the CEO of Siemens here. It's great customer of Salesforce outside.
And that idea that now there's a CT scanner, there's somebody who needs to have a scan, and you don't need the very top person in the world. You have somebody who can be there, a radiologist, in concert with this AI, and you can have this analysis.
It's not perfect. It's not a replacement. But for sure, it's a democratization. There's an equanimity that comes from having that capability. And I think that is the way to start to really think about that. Again, it's an augmentation story, but it's a very exciting story for the future.
BRIAN SOZZI: Ahead of this conference, Marc-- and I hate name dropping, especially in front of you. But nonetheless, I talked to the head of the IMF, and she was making a point that--
MARC BENIOFF: Kristalina.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yes. Am I-- AI--
MARC BENIOFF: I love her. She's one of my favorite people in the world.
BRIAN SOZZI: Awesome.
MARC BENIOFF: Yeah.
BRIAN SOZZI: Great-- incredible, great thought leader. But she was making the case that AI is going to spread and create more global inequality. Do you agree with that?
MARC BENIOFF: Well, there's no question it could. I've actually been saying that for decades that AI could be a creator of inequality. It could also be a creator of equality. I think AI has to be almost a human right to have access to AI. And we need the governance around AI.
Listen, we're coming into a really critical year on elections. And we all understand social media and what social media can be like, and what can happen with social media and how it can go really wrong. And the reality is, over the last decade, social media has been kind of a [BLEEP] show.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, no.
MARC BENIOFF: And we've--
BRIAN SOZZI: No regulation.
MARC BENIOFF: Had a lot of talks about that.
BRIAN SOZZI: Nothing. Not-- no regulation. Do you think--
MARC BENIOFF: How many times have we talked about that?
BRIAN SOZZI: A lot. It's been-- and you've been consistent. They have done a disastrous job on this. Well, they do a better job on--
MARC BENIOFF: And we don't look at section 230. We don't look at anything. So now, we're coming into AI. I think we just-- we're at this UK safety summit. And I was very impressed that every regulator from every major country in the world was all there, and that they are really looking at how are they going to really look at AI and make sure that it stays on the rails.
Maybe because they've seen the movies. So they understand where it can go. But I think that this is a really critical moment that these regulators need to step up and to really take this very seriously because this is real.
BRIAN SOZZI: One of the-- when we first came in contact with you, Marc, many years ago at this conference, we talked a lot about climate. And it got me thinking of all the good work you've done with your close friend, Jane Goodall. And not one conversation really that we have had here so far at this conference has been on climate and climate change. And frankly, that bothered me. And do you feel as though the world is paying enough attention right now on climate change?
MARC BENIOFF: There's a lot of conversations happening--
BRIAN SOZZI: Still happening?
MARC BENIOFF: --on climate. Yeah. You may not be in them, but the CEOs meetings that I'm in, there is lots of conversations, and a lot of good stories and a lot of progress has been made by a lot of companies on, number 1, reducing their emissions.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yep.
MARC BENIOFF: OK, number 2 is a major program that I run here, which is our trillion trees, which is the idea that we need more biodiversity. We had 6 trillion trees, we've gone down to 3 trillion. Every trillion trees is 200 gigatons of carbon.
Now why that is important is you remember in third grade, these trees can take CO2 out of the atmosphere and convert it to oxygen. And we need to replenish our biodiversity. We need to take care of our oceans. We need to reduce overfishing, protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. We need to nurture our coral. We need to address the issues that are going on with plastic.
You know there's an incredibly important treaty that's about to be signed by the UN in regards to plastic. And this idea that we have so much plastic out there, and the plankton and the ocean are eating the plastic, and the fish are eating the plastic, and the plankton and we are eating the fish. And we all understand that. I don't think anybody-- it's not a mystery how the world cycle is.
And yeah, we need to take care of our planet. And this is an incredible part of what we're doing. And we also need an ecopreneur revolution. Entrepreneurs like me are coming out of schools-- I just funded a $25 million program at Stanford, which combines the sustainability school and the business school to bring them together to create an ecopreneur school.
The idea that people can build a business that takes care of the world. That the business of business doesn't have to be just business, it can be about improving the world, and that business can be the greatest platform for change. And this idea that businesses and CEOs can create companies to even nurture our environment. That's really amazing. And there's a lot of examples here at the show as well.
BRIAN SOZZI: I know this issue is very close to your heart. And you're putting your money where your mouth is, Marc. But do you feel as though this presidential election in the US, climate policy is also on the ballot? And does that upset you?
MARC BENIOFF: Well, yeah, I've been through this now so many times. 25 years at Salesforce growing the company to 70,000 employees. We've given guidance. We're heading to $35 billion approximately in revenue this year.
And that idea that there have been so many presidents and administrations during that time, I guess, what I realized was administrations are going to change but our core values are not going to change. So we know we're about trust, customer success, innovation. We're about equality and we're about sustainability. So we're going to care about the trees and the oceans no matter who's in office.
BRIAN SOZZI: Salesforce is a different company compared to one year ago. What has made it a different company? I had a breakfast with your team earlier on. And there was a different vibe-- focused on the numbers, focused on using data in a trusted way. Just, it just feels like a different entity.
MARC BENIOFF: We really got to another level in our business in terms of size and scale when we became the third largest software company in the world, second largest software company in Japan. And we realized we needed to take our capabilities up.
That's why we've improved our margins 1,000 basis-- more than 1,000 basis points in the last year, which is kind of incredible. And I don't think our financials have really been better, our products have never been more competitive. Our customers have never been more successful. And it's great to connect with them here at the conference.
And I think that management team that we were talking about, people like Brian Millham, who's my chief operating officer, and Amy Weaver is my chief financial officer have been the most loyal lieutenants, but also just phenomenal executives in terms of their ability to operate the business. It's been just a joy to work with the team.
BRIAN SOZZI: Lastly, before we let you go-- I know you're a busy guy in an event like this. Seriously, any leader--
MARC BENIOFF: For you, I have as much time as you want.
BRIAN SOZZI: You've been a great friend to "Yahoo Finance." Marc, any leadership advice you can offer the next generation of leaders? People that may be coming in contact with you for the first time on our platform, and they hear what you're saying, how do they become better leaders?
MARC BENIOFF: Look, I think that there are so many important things that you can do. I think using your business as a platform for change is probably number one. I guess the thing that we did that was so great was one, our 1-1-1 model.
That when we started our company, we put 1% of our equity, 1% of our profit, 1% of our time into a foundation. It was very easy at the time because we had no employees, no stock. There was nobody. No activist investors. Nobody was giving me any business.
But that's turned into almost $1 billion in grants. We run 50,000 nonprofits for free on our service. We've been able to do almost 10 million hours of volunteerism all over the world. And we can have a huge impact. Even here at the conference, we run a program for kids where we teach them computer science and AI using our facilities. That our core values in our company are about giving back. And that we realize that that's the real joy in life, that where it's really the fun part is we love the products. I love making the customers successful, the Guccis, the Disney's, the Fords--
BRIAN SOZZI: But do good. Do good.
MARC BENIOFF: But I also want to-- giving back is also so much fun. And I think that CEOs and entrepreneurs rob themselves of that joy when they don't think about how they can use their business to improve the world.
Look, everybody doesn't have to do everything. But everybody can do something. And if you can do one thing and you can create a culture of doing something, that's exciting for business. And there's so many great examples of that today.
BRIAN SOZZI: It is always exciting to get a little time with you. Marc Benioff, Salesforce co-founder and CEO. Thank you. I appreciate it.
MARC BENIOFF: It's great to see you, Brian.
BRIAN SOZZI: Great to see you. A pleasure. Thank you.
MARC BENIOFF: I really appreciate it.
BRIAN SOZZI: Thank you.