As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful and widely adopted, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has joined other technology leaders calling for greater responsibility in how the technology is developed and used.
His comments come amid a growing debate around AI safety. The discussion intensified after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on frontier AI labs to slow the pace of model development so that safety measures can keep up.
Benioff has previously spoken about the broader impact of technology on society. He has been a vocal critic of social media companies and their societal effects and has called for greater regulation of the sector.
Now, he is urging AI companies to avoid repeating those mistakes.
“A lot of companies got hurt, a lot of individuals got hurt through social media,” Benioff told Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview during Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce event in San Francisco. “We don’t want that to happen in AI.”
The comments are notable as Salesforce maintains close ties with companies at the centre of the AI industry. Last month, Salesforce introduced Claudeforce, including a plugin that allows customers to use Anthropic’s Claude to access customer data stored in Salesforce and carry out tasks such as composing emails and updating records.
Amodei appeared on stage during Benioff’s keynote on Tuesday and said, “I think that’s the way to lead the industry forward, to set an example, to say that everyone can always be better.”
Benioff did not directly criticize AI companies or support calls to slow AI development. Instead, he said companies developing the technology have a responsibility to consider its wider impact.
“We want AI to take care of these things and be held responsible, and take care of these actions and be ethical,” Benioff said. “The heart of ethics is responsibility.”
He added, “We really look at a light on our brethren here in San Francisco and all over the world and say, ‘We want you to be ethical in your actions and how you take care of your communities and the world,’ because this technology is very powerful.”
Salesforce shares gave back some of their more than 4.5% gain from the previous session on Tuesday. Enterprise software stocks had risen sharply on Monday following Amodei’s comments. Salesforce is up more than 50% from its 52-week low of $146 in late June.
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