# Salesforce's Marc Benioff says AI will move support staff to new jobs

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/news/salesforces-marc-benioff-says-ai-will-move-support-staff-to-new-jobs/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

[News](https://realalpha.app/news/) · 20VC

By [Rushabh Sheth](https://realalpha.app/news/authors/rushabh-sheth/) Oct. 29, 2026, 2:05 p.m. ET

Marc Benioff, who founded Salesforce, said on the podcast 20VC that AI will let him move support workers into other jobs. The episode was posted Dec. 9, 2024.

This touches anyone who has ever called a company for help. It also matters for workers whose jobs are being done by software. Benioff said Salesforce has 9,000 people in support today. He said he will not need as many there in the future.

Benioff said he plans to move many of them into sales and other areas where he is hiring. The tool is Agentforce, Salesforce's AI that keeps working on a task by itself. He said he has moved his whole support operation onto it to show customers what is possible. Asked if he would move people or just cut costs, he said a lot will get moved. On layoffs, he said this at 20:56.

"layoff is an important tool for CEOs to be able to use"

The story in the news now is Salesforce's deal to buy Braze. [Yahoo Finance](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/salesforce-pledges-47-50-share-200318721.html) reports that Salesforce agreed to pay $47.50 per share in cash, about $5.66 billion in enterprise value. The headline also says Agentforce annual recurring revenue tops $1.5 billion.

Salesforce sells Agentforce, so Benioff gains when customers believe it works. He said he hopes to move most support staff, but he didn't give a date or a number. He also called layoffs a tool CEOs should not be afraid to use.

Watch the 4 minutes where he explains it. [18:07](https://realalpha.app/v/Xgsxi7IGMEU/#t=1087)

## Sources

- The moment: [Marc Benioff, Salesforce Founder: Why Salesforce Isn't Hiring Software Engineers | E1236](https://realalpha.app/s/agentforce-could-shift-support-workers-into-other-roles/#t=1256), 20VC, Dec. 9, 2024, from 18:07 to 21:59
- The story: [Salesforce Pledges $47.50 a Share for Braze as Agentforce ARR Tops $1.5 Billion](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/salesforce-pledges-47-50-share-200318721.html), Yahoo Finance, by Rexielyn Diaz, Oct. 28, 2026

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