Generative AI is going to have "revolutionary" impacts on the world, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said during the company's earnings call on Wednesday which was dominated by discussion of the technology.
"We are about to enter an unbelievable super cycle for tech, and everyone can see that," Benioff told investors. "This is an incredible opportunity for not only Salesforce, but our entire industry."
Salesforce has begun integrating OpenAI's generative AI platform ChatGPT into Slack, its workplace messaging app. Slack GPT can summarize conversations, provide research tools, and draft messages.
"You may never need to leave Slack to get a question answered," Benioff told investors.
"My dream is that all that data that's inside Slack, well, as we work on our own [large language model], that Slack is almost going to like wake up and become intelligent itself," Benioff told CNBC on Wednesday. "It's going to be an incredible revelation for our customers, that they've got intelligence by their side with Slack."
Benioff told investors that Salesforce's customers included Gucci, which is using AI to create a "Gucci-fied" tone of service and aid their customer service staff.
Generative AI can help users by saving time with routine tasks, gathering and summarizing research, and conveying information concisely. People have been using the technology in their personal, professional, and academic lives, from applying to jobs to writing essays.
But concerns have mounted over the ethics of generative AI, including the spread of deepfake images, the way that AI can sometimes hallucinate or develop bias, and the potential loss of jobs.
Some scientists and CEOs have argued for stricter regulation of AI and even a pause on advanced AI development so that researchers can assess the potential risks of the technology.
"The coming wave of generative AI will be more revolutionary than any technology innovation that's come before in our lifetime, or maybe any lifetime," Benioff told investors, noting that it was "reshaping our world in ways that we've never imagined."
"This AI revolution is just getting started," he added.
