Marc Benioff believes that AI will increase the value of Salesforce, rather than reduce it.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the Salesforce CEO spoke out against investor concerns that AI could destroy enterprise software companies, pushing back on the possible “SaaS-pocalypse” idea.
This reflects a broader debate in the market about whether AI will disrupt SaaS business models or strengthen their role in enterprise technology.
“People think we have our back against the wall when in fact the opportunity has never been greater,” he said.
In an earlier interview with CNBC in March, Benioff reaffirmed that there is no evidence that AI is hurting SaaS demand.
“Our customers are doing more with AI, but to say there’s some kind of SaaS-pocalypse going on?
“We don’t see it in our pipelines, and we don’t see it in our numbers.”
Misplaced Fears of AI Disruption
Benioff argues that the fears of AI wiping out SaaS are misplaced, as investors express concerns that AI agents could reduce the need for human workers, undermining the traditional per-seat pricing model used by Salesforce and similar firms.
In his interview, Benioff claimed that AI is not replacing enterprise software but instead increasing its importance, arguing that managing customer data, workflows, and enterprise trust cannot simply be replicated by standalone AI tools.
Leading AI campaigns are more likely to partner with platforms like Salesforce, he suggests, as enterprise-grade systems require integration, security, and compliance capabilities that go beyond raw AI models.
With Salesforce actively repositioning itself to align with this shift by embedded AI into its products, early results show productivity gains in areas such as customer service or internal support, including the automation of routine queries and reduced workloads.
Benioff also argues that Salesforce’s evolving business model has helped to ensure the firm’s longevity, acknowledging that whilst AI may reduce the number of human users, which challenges per-seat pricing, he frames this shift as a transition rather than a threat.
Having introduced usage-based metrics such as Agentic Work Units to measure the output of AI systems rather than the number of employees, this allows Salesforce to move from selling access to software to selling outcomes generated by AI-driven software.
Investor Concerns Over AI Disruption
The wider outlook, however, remains concerned that AI represents a structural threat to the SaaS model rather than an incremental improvement.