Salesforce’s Agentforce software is coming to OpenAI’s ChatGPT later this year
News Summary
Salesforce is aggressively pursuing partnerships with leaders in generative AI to address investor concerns about business risks posed by the rapid growth of AI. The company announced that its Agentforce 360 software will enable the use of AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic, and has expanded Agentforce beyond text chats to handle voice calls. Brian Landsman, CEO of Salesforce’s AppExchange business and EVP of partnerships, stated that the way people interact with software will fundamentally shift, with interactions potentially occurring in ChatGPT or Slack. Salesforce will also collaborate with Anthropic to integrate Agentforce 360 into Claude. Despite Salesforce shares being down about 26% this year while the S&P 500 gained 13%, Wall Street is seeking faster revenue growth. Morgan Stanley analysts note that Agentforce revenue has been "modest" so far. The collaboration will allow customers to access corporate information in Agentforce 360 and create Tableau charts through the ChatGPT assistant, which has over 800 million weekly users, and sell products via ChatGPT’s instant checkout feature later in 2025.
Background
Salesforce, a global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and cloud software, is facing significant pressure from the rapid advancement of generative AI. Investor concerns that AI could disrupt traditional enterprise software models have led to Salesforce's stock underperforming the broader market significantly this year. In response to this challenge, Salesforce has increased its investment and strategic positioning in AI, including the launch of its Agentforce 360 software. Meanwhile, OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT, has emerged as a dominant force in AI. Its platform and models are being widely integrated into various applications, including previously announced partnerships with major software companies like Atlassian, Datadog, and Intuit, and a substantial investment from Microsoft, indicating its growing influence in enterprise applications.
In-Depth AI Insights
Does Salesforce's aggressive embrace of AI partnerships implicitly acknowledge a disruptive threat to its core CRM business? - This strategic pivot reflects Salesforce's deep understanding that AI could shift user interaction away from traditional enterprise software interfaces (like its CRM platform) towards AI-native conversational interfaces. - By embedding Agentforce 360 within ChatGPT and Claude, Salesforce aims to ensure its data and services remain relevant in this new interaction paradigm, preventing disintermediation. - It's not entirely an admission of failure but rather a proactive defensive and adaptive strategy to position itself as an indispensable part of AI-driven enterprise workflows, even if those workflows are no longer solely dominated by Salesforce's UI. Given Salesforce's stock underperformance this year and "modest" Agentforce revenue, can these AI collaborations effectively translate into substantial revenue growth and market share gains? - The challenge lies in transforming AI integration from a mere "feature enhancement" to a "core value driver." Simply offering AI capabilities might not be enough to allay investor concerns about decelerated growth and intensified competition. - The key will be whether Salesforce can leverage these partnerships to create truly differentiated, AI-powered solutions that generate new revenue streams, rather than just being an AI "skin" over existing products. - For instance, the ability to sell products via ChatGPT, if effectively integrated with Salesforce's backend CRM data and sales processes, and if it expands sales channels for existing customers, could be a new growth vector, but its scale and profitability remain to be seen. What are the long-term implications of these AI partnerships for Salesforce's position in the enterprise software ecosystem? How will it balance collaboration with competition against AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic? - In the long run, Salesforce may evolve into a more open, API-driven platform, with its core value stemming from data management, workflow automation, and industry expertise, rather than solely its front-end applications. - Collaborating with AI giants is a double-edged sword: it offers immediate innovation and market access but could also make Salesforce somewhat dependent on these AI model providers, potentially eroding its autonomous innovation and pricing power. - Salesforce needs to ensure continuous development of its own AI capabilities and leverage its vast customer base and data advantage to maintain a leading position in these collaborations, avoiding becoming merely a "feature extension" provider for AI giants.