Has AI Failed Salesforce?
May 28, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
The Next Web published “Salesforce Is Selling the AI Future Harder Than It Is Delivering It.” This write up fits in the category of “AI Is a Loser.” From my point of view, AI is a utility. The problem is that hyperbole about a utility leads to disappointment. How many times have you worn a T shirt with the logo of the firm providing aluminum sulfate to your local water treatment plant operator?
An AI misstep can have some significant consequences. Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough.
The write up doesn’t view AI as a utility software. I think the publication believes it bought into the AI hype and now appears to balance its old AI information with some “maybe it is an issue” coverage. Salesforce is a good case. Its forward-leaning sales pitches strike me as embarrassing. The Next Web article states:
The company has closed 29,000 Agentforce deals and claims $800 million in ARR, but its stock is down 30 per cent this year and the showcase demos keep turning out to be works in progress.
Even my team and I can make demos work. We define narrow functions. We shape the information. Then we make the system look like it is really pulling the cart around the circus ring. In the somewhat fluid and usually chaotic world of an operating organization, AI hallucinates, and “fixes” are not working.
The write up says:
SharkNinja, the maker of Shark vacuums and Ninja kitchen appliances, was another [Salesforce] headline customer. Salesforce said the company would use Agentforce to streamline customer service. Bloomberg reported a 20 per cent reduction in support calls as part of the pitch. But the deployment described was forward-looking, with agents expected to “guide customers through the buying process” and “manage returns,” not a report on outcomes already achieved.
Okay, “not a report on outcomes already achieved.” I interpreted this to mean that the Salesforce pitch was great. The real-life operation was a bit of a high-profile problem. Oh, oh. Another corporate president gets squeezed because of AI jazz talk.
To make clear that Salesforce has created a problem for itself, the story reports:
Salesforce’s financial trajectory adds another layer. Revenue growth has slowed from roughly 25 per cent a few years ago to about 10 per cent in fiscal 2026, when the company reported $41.5 billion in total revenue. That is still a large business, and the company delivered a strong fourth quarter with 12 per cent growth. But the deceleration is exactly what investors fear when they hear that AI agents will compress the number of human users who need software licenses.
Yeah, bubbling under the surface is the small matter of pricing. I would suggest that the blue chip consulting firms are staring at this brick wall as well. It costs a lot of money to replace a high roller client. Careers are ended when the AI initiative craters a traditional model young CEOs don’t understand or respect.
What’s Salesforce’s future look like? I think there will be lower cost, good enough options to replace Salesforce. My thought is that few in Salesforce’s leadership will agree with my statement. That’s okay. But I think this write up from The Next Web is just the first of others that document the issues surfacing with a utility that screws up a function instead of working well and reducing costs, thus attracting more customers. The case studies of the slip betwixt cup and lip will become more prevalent. Then they will stop. Utilities have to work. AI hallucinates, makes stuff up, and creates code that may detonate at an unknown point in the future in a way that no one wants to think about.
At Salesforce, the commitment to AI has been made. Stakeholders hope that the delivery of promised features and functions will happen. And once deployed, these smart services make the customers really happy. Otherwise, there will be a very large, very conspicuous office building in the San Francisco area with dark windows.
Stephen E Arnold, May 28, 2026
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