Salesforce CEO slams Microsoft AI work - says Copilot is "new Clippy"

Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, a company that has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence tools for its portfolio, has called Microsoft’s Copilot AI a “tremendous disservice” to the industry.

In a recent interview on the Rapid Response podcast, Benioff likened Copilot to Microsoft’s early office assistant, Clippy, suggesting the service is disappointing and fails to deliver meaningful value.

The comments come despite Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI several months ago, and the subsequent injection of what is considered one of the best AI models available into its products.

Salesforce CEO criticizes Microsoft’s Copilot AI

Benioff went as far as suggesting that Redmond’s extensive AI efforts might not be around for long, predicting faded hype and a dwindling user base.

In the podcast, he added: “It doesn't work. It spews data all over our floors, it doesn't deliver value. I haven't found a customer who has transformational work with Copilot. Copilot is just the new Microsoft Clippy.”

Keen to separate Microsoft’s efforts with those of Salesforce, the CEO praised the company’s new Agentforce tool for helping to transform businesses by delivering tangible value. Agentforce is already reportedly handling “a couple of trillion AI transactions per week,” leading to satisfied customers.

Looking ahead, Benioff alluded to an AI landscape dominated by AI agents destined for enterprises, suggesting the demise of Microsoft Copilot, which promises to deliver productivity and efficiency improvements for workers.

Despite the CEO’s criticism, Microsoft’s influence in the AI space remains strong. Its relative early entry combined with its affiliation with OpenAI put it high on the scoreboard among companies choosing to employ AI. Subsequently, Microsoft has plans to continue investing in its data centers to support future expansion.

Microsoft became the second company to reach a market cap of $3 trillion, well into its AI journey, and analysts are predicting that it could be the world’s most valuable company in the years to come. Apple currently holds that title, but chipmaker Nvidia, which is responsible for providing those all-important data center chips, has also entered the race, and strongly.

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