Salesforce has cut thousands of jobs in its support division as Artificial Intelligence takes a large share of customer interaction. Chief Executive Officer Mark Benioff said that the AI ​​system is now responsible for about half of the chats with customers, which has reduced the need for human employees.

Speaking at a podcast released on Friday, Benioff said that the company’s aid team has increased to about 9,000 people in the last few months. He said that this step has become possible due to AI agents that can manage customers requests and follow the leads, the work work first needed a very large workforce.

“This is one of the most exciting periods of my career,” he said. He said, “I was able to re -settle my head count on my support. I have reduced it by 9,000 heads, because I need a low head,” he said.

Salesforce, which had more than 76,000 employees at the beginning of the year during divisions, described Beniofof as “agentic AI”. These are systems that can break a large task into small parts and step by step. The company is now using these systems to contact every possible lead. According to Benioff, the salesforce missed over 100 million leads in their 26 -year history, as there were not enough people to handle them.

He also stated that human employees are important, with an “omnichaneal supervisor” ensure that people and AI agents work together. Benioff said that AI now handles half the conversation, while the rest is managed by assistant employees. In some cases, AI passes on tasks that cannot manage human agents. In a comparison, he said that it was like a Tesla car when its self-driving system faces difficulties.

“When companies become more productive using artificial intelligence, it is likely that it reveals itself better earning, or better development, or both,” Huang said. “When this happens, the next email from the CEO is probably not an announcement of a pruning.”

The rapid expansion of AI in the workplaces has raised questions about the future of jobs. While salesforce has already cut thousands of roles, some industry leaders believe that AI does not necessarily reduce the task force. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said that AI agents will improve efficiency and help companies grow, which can translate to more opportunities than trimmed. Microsoft’s AI Product Head Asha Sharma recently stated that these equipment can also change how organizations are structured, possibly additional layers of management are reduced.