At Dreamforce 2024, the news was all about Agentforce. This is the Agentic AI solution that Salesforce hopes will revolutionize how people work and, at the same time, drive subscription revenues even higher. It painted a future where Agentforce might replace some of the roles that a workforce currently does.
However, the languages were often carefully gauged about not replacing jobs. Yet, Wiley, who had been using Agentforce over the summer, did not need to hire as many staff to cover their busiest period.
I had the opportunity to sit and talk with Michael (Mick) Costigan, Vice-President, Salesforce Futures and a futurologist during the event and talk about this bigger issue in this podcast.
Costigan makes a strong argument for evolution, not revolution.
The conversation with Costigan was fascinating
Costigan sees Agentforce not as a replacement but as a supplement to people. He cited the Jevons paradox. It is an economic phenomenon that occurs when increased efficiency in resource use leads to increased resource consumption rather than decreased consumption. He cited Coal and Spreadsheets.
Costigan commented, “As we got more efficient at producing spreadsheets so that people could do analysis, we found there was lots more analysis we wanted to do.”
He also argues away the potential that Agentic AI has of creating greater wealth inequality. Costigan infers that Agentic AI solutions will replace the role with a high turnover in staff.
The challenge with any AI solution is that it can be used as a force for good or bad. Salesforce itself has a strong moral stance on this, with Costigan saying, “We take very seriously the need to be a good stakeholder in the societies and nations in which we operate. So we’re always engaging with not just our customers but with policymakers. And this is a conversation that we have with them as well.”
Where can I get it?
You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the player below. Alternatively, click on any of the podcast services below and go to the Enterprise Times podcast page.
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