Marc Benioff Criticises AI Co-pilots, Compares To Microsoft’s Clippy

Marc Benioff gave delegates some food for thought when he delivered a sharp critique of the current wave of artificial intelligence (AI) copilots, comparing them to Microsoft’s infamous Clippy, the late 1990s virtual assistant often called the ‘worst AI assistant’.

“We have been hearing from our customers who are using these copilots, saying that it is not exactly performing as they want it to. In some ways, they are looking at copilots as the new Microsoft Clippy,” the Salesforce Chairman, CEO and Co-founder remarked. He added that while copilots may have generated excitement initially, they often fall short of delivering on the promises of increased productivity and enhanced business outcomes.

“Copilots are not the key step to the future of AI,” he said. During Dreamforce, Benioff positioned Salesforce’s new ‘Agentforce’ as the future, calling it the “third wave of AI”.

A Major Shift
For Benioff, Agentforce is a major leap beyond predictive AI and chatbots. This new platform is designed to deploy autonomous agents that can augment employees and handle complex business processes, leading to significant productivity gains. “The first time you build and deploy your first autonomous agent for your company, it is going to feel like that moment you first rode in an autonomous car,” Benioff said, indicating how monumental he believes this shift will be.

Agentforce is built to overcome the limitations of previous AI technologies, including copilots, which Benioff critiqued for their inconsistencies and inability to deliver meaningful results at scale. Unlike copilots, which assist users with basic tasks, Agentforce represents a more sophisticated approach to AI. It integrates deeply with the Salesforce platform, utilising trusted data, business processes and security models to create highly accurate, low-hallucination AI agents capable of driving real business impact.

By embedding AI directly into Salesforce’s Customer 360 platform, Agentforce goes the extra mile. Benioff said that Agentforce is designed to address the post-pandemic productivity challenges facing many companies, where employees are overwhelmed and struggling to meet growing customer expectations.

“Agentforce has to be the biggest breakthrough we have ever had in technology,” Benioff stated, calling it the natural evolution of AI after the first wave of predictive analytics and the second wave of chatbots and copilots. “This is about humans with agents driving customer success together on the Salesforce platform.”

This third wave of AI, as Benioff calls it, will allow businesses to deploy industry-specific agents, whether in healthcare, finance, or manufacturing, enabling them to deliver personalised, efficient and secure services at scale. With Agentforce, Salesforce is betting big on the future of AI, moving past the copilot stage and into an era where AI agents can transform how companies operate and serve their customers.

BW Businessworld is attending Dreamforce 2024 in San Francisco on invitation by Salesforce.

Noor Fathima Warsia

BW Reporters A veteran journalist in business and corporate journalism, Noor Fathima Warsia is the Group Editorial Director of India’s oldest business publication, BW Businessworld. In her role, Noor leads the editorial initiatives across BW Businessworld’s flagship product and communities focused on education, startups, healthcare and wellbeing, media & marketing, gaming, HR and legal among others. In a career spanning more than two decades, Noor has led the publishing of the flagship BW Businessworld magazine and its community magazines, guided the online editorial team and led communities such as BW Marketing World apart from working on editorial-led IPs such as BW Most Influential Women, BW India’s Most Sustainable Companies, BW Top 50 Marketers and more.