Marc Benioff said that the promise of AGI was a "TK" Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images Business Insider obtained the results of Salesforce's annual employee survey. Most employees felt AI made them more productive. Fewer felt it had decreased their workloads. Salesforce says the survey shows big gains in AI use and enthusiasm. Salesforce says it's at the vanguard of the AI revolution and has even toyed with renaming itself Agentforce in honor of its bet on AI agents. The company is rapidly adopting AI internally as well, and a survey obtained by Business Insider reveals how that's actually playing out behind the scenes. The results — which were broadly positive — show that most employees feel AI is increasing their productivity, although fewer say it's lightening their workloads. Salesforce's annual "Great Insights" survey, which is not public, was conducted in November 2025 and released inside the software company the following month. It surveyed about 80% of the 76,000-person workforce. Most questions about AI received high favorability ratings: In addition to the 81% of employees who said AI tools boost productivity, 83% said they feel equipped to handle AI risks such as bias, and 81% said they felt encouraged to experiment with AI. More than half of employees — 57% — said AI tools helped their team identify opportunities that would have been impossible otherwise. And 62% said their workload is more manageable because they use AI tools. Both of these were among the lowest results in the survey. Salesforce told Business Insider in a statement that the survey showed significant gains in AI use and strong enthusiasm. A composite it creates called the AI Readiness score was at 85% enterprise-wide, an 18% gain year-over-year. "We're thrilled that our employees have moved on from adoption and are seeing AI tools make a meaningful impact in their daily work," a Salesforce spokesperson said. The results suggest that Salesforce is ahead of the pack on encouraging AI adoption, said Jason Schloetzer, an associate professor at Georgetown University's business school who has interviewed dozens of executives about AI adoption. The results also show that, for some employees, AI intensifies their workload rather than reducing it. "The gaps suggest people believe AI is enabling them to do more work, but it's not making their work easier," he said. Salesforce, which sells customer relationship management software, has garnered attention for an intense AI push led by CEO Marc Benioff. Last August, he said half of the work at Salesforce was being done by AI and that the company had eliminated 4,000 support roles because of AI agents. Salesforce's website says the company uses a mix of internal AI tools, including an AI from Salesforce-owned Slack that can quickly find old project templates, and Career Connect, which analyzes employees' strengths and weaknesses to help them move within the company. Salesforce is facing challenges despite its embrace of the AI revolution. Its stock is down over 40% in the past year as concerns mount about the fate of legacy software companies amid the arrival of AI tools from OpenAI and Anthropic. The company has also struggled to deliver on promises made in demos of its AI product Agentforce, Business Insider previously reported. Read the original article on Business Insider

Parker Harris addressed Marc Benioff's controversial jokes about ICE. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff made jokes about ICE during an employee event. Salesforce cofounder and CTO Parker Harris addressed the controversy in an internal meeting. "Marc made a very bad joke," he said. "I'm not okay with it personally." Salesforce cofounder Parker Harris addressed the controversy over CEO Marc Benioff's ICE jokes in an internal meeting, saying he was "not OK with it," Business Insider has learned. "Marc made a very bad joke," Harris, who is the company's chief technical officer, said. "But that's something that Marc did, and I'm not gonna call him out in public out on the internet." A transcript of Harris' remarks at a meeting of the product and tech team last week was posted by an employee to a Slack channel. Business Insider verified that the transcript was accurate. Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment. Benioff has not spoken about the jokes or the company's reaction to them. In his meeting, Harris began by addressing a question about why many company leaders had not addressed Benioff's comments at Salesforce's employee-only company kickoff in Las Vegas last Tuesday. "So I'll start by saying that somebody already has, and it was immediately leaked," Harris said, referring to a Business Insider story about another executive who criticized Benioff's jokes. "Let's talk about it with each other and not out to Business Insider and other places because it doesn't do us any good," he said, adding. "It's a violation of the Code of Conduct, and it's a fireable offense. And if we do catch you, we will fire you." At the kickoff, Benioff made "multiple" jokes about ICE, including one about agents surveilling Salesforce employee travel, employees told Business Insider at the time. Workers reacted with anger on Slack, which is owned by Salesforce. Slack General Manager Rob Seaman posted a comment saying he could not "defend or explain" his boss' comments. "They do not align with my personal values and I know this to be the case for many of you as well," he wrote. Craig Broscow, a Salesforce VP, acknowledged the "deep disappointment" in his own Slack message after the kickoff remarks. "It would be a step in the right direction and for Marc to acknowledge as soon as possible — ideally publicly — that his attempted joke was extremely upsetting to large segments of his employee base," Broscow said. Speaking to his team, Harris said Seaman got in hot water for his post. "I'll tell you personally, and this is what Rob said as well, and I respect Rob for saying that, but he got in big trouble 'cause it went out on the internet," Harris said. "Personally, I'm not OK with that joke. Harris went on to say that "it's hard right now with what is going on [in] the US" and "what's going in, like, Minneapolis is not about our software. Our software is not being used there." Harris said Salesforce is "not a political organization" and encouraged employees to make their views known at the ballot box. "I'm going to use my democratic right to vote, and that's how I'm gonna take action against some of the things that I'm not okay with," he said. He closed with saying, "So that's my statement. It may not make you feel better. So I'm sorry if it doesn't make you feel better. I think we should keep talking about it. I'm totally fine talking about it more. Please keep it confidential." Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at astewart@businessinsider.com or Signal at +1-425-344-8242. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely. Read the original article on Business Insider