salesforce(US:CRM) Sou Hu Cai Jing·2026-01-22 11:32Core Insights - Salesforce's CEO Marc Benioff has shown an excessive fascination with AI, leading to significant layoffs of 4,000 employees, primarily in roles that require deep industry experience and customer understanding [6][10] - The company has since acknowledged that it overestimated AI's capabilities, particularly in handling complex customer service issues, resulting in decreased productivity and increased workload for remaining employees [8][10] - Salesforce is now shifting its AI strategy, moving from a dominant AI role back to a supportive role for employees, indicating a potential reversal of its previous approach [10] Group 1: Layoffs and AI Strategy - Salesforce laid off 4,000 employees, including administrators, consultants, and developers, due to a belief that AI could replace their roles [6] - The company is now facing challenges as AI has proven inadequate in managing customer service complexities, leading to a need for re-hiring previously laid-off staff [8][10] Group 2: Industry Trends and Insights - A report from Visier indicates that 5.3% of laid-off employees across 142 global companies were eventually re-hired, often with salary increases of 25% to 28% compared to a 4% increase for remaining employees [10] - Research from Oxford Economics suggests that only 4.5% of layoffs by 2025 will be genuinely due to AI, with many instances being regular economic layoffs framed as AI-driven [14] - Historical data shows that significant technological disruptions in the workforce typically take decades to manifest, rather than the short-term impacts often anticipated [14][17]