Salesforce and Oracle flex their AI muscles with a suite of new tools powered by the technology

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Zooming In

A deep dive into one big theme or news story every week.

Big tech firms are racing to get ahead in the AI game, incorporating the technology into their products to enable users to create text, imagery and other content with the click of a button.

Salesforce on Monday took things up a notch by rolling out AI Cloud, a notable addition to its software suite that helps create personalized content for clients and developers by fusing AI across its products.

“Artificial intelligence…maybe it's the most important technology of any lifetime,” Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff said at an event in New York on Monday. “AI is reshaping our world and transforming business in ways we never imagined, and every company needs to become AI-first.”

Salesforce claims to be doubling down on privacy

The software giant is adopting an open ecosystem approach, where users of AI Cloud can access a mix of large language models including Salesforce’s own LLMs, third-party models like Anthropic and OpenAI , and even its own in-house models to deploy AI and do everything from code generation to creating product landing pages within Salesforce.

The company emphasized that AI Cloud was different from other AI models due to its focus on privacy and safety, where enterprises could use AI capabilities across its suite of products "without their data ever leaving Salesforce," per Benioff. This is because of its Einstein Trust Layer, which uses techniques like data masking to guard sensitive commercial and personal data, so nothing is retained within the LLMs, according to the company.

Salesforce clearly sees its trust layer as its biggest differentiator – and opportunity.

“They [other more public models] take these huge vacuum cleaners, and they're just vacuuming up all of the data off the internet that they can get,” said Benioff. “When we look at these new models…there's a pretty big gap – and it takes place in every conversation I have with every CEO. It’s this AI trust gap.”

Some customers are already using these offerings

Following Salesforce’s announcement, 甲骨文 on Tuesday announced an end-to-end platform for generative AI services, similarly branding it as a privacy-focused offering designed to appeal to regulated industries.

These moves confirm what Bessemer Venture Partners’ Sameer Dholakia had told me a few months ago – that making a foray into AI-based applications was a no-brainer for cloud providers.

Benioff, for his part, readily admitted to me how Salesforce's existing customer base had given the company a headstart in getting its AI products off the ground, saying: “All their data is already on Salesforce, so it’s a good place to start with.”

The company’s “starter pack” pricing models have also helped drive trials, Benioff said, pointing at how its data cloud starter packs have been popular. In the same vein, Salesforce is rolling out the AI Cloud “starter pack” for $360,000 a year, with some AI Cloud features already generally available.

Some customers are already embracing these offerings, according to Salesforce, which noted that its Einstein AI product is powering more than 1 trillion predictions a week across its suite. Representatives from the likes of Gucci , french outdoor brand Rossignol Group and AAA (American Automobile Association) spoke about their experiences with Salesforce’s tools.

“I don't want someone who has the greatest thing, but leaves my back door open," said Shohreh Abedi, AAA executive vice president, referring to how data protection is a big driver in AAA’s purchasing decisions.

This Week in AI

Here’s where we bring you up-to-speed with the latest advancements from the world of AI.

• 谷歌 , meanwhile, turned its focus toward consumers, rolling out a medley of AI-powered features at an event in New York this week. This includes new travel and product search tools and a virtual try-on feature that uses generative AI to display clothes on a lineup of real-life fashion models.
• Generative AI will deliver a big productivity boost in coming decades — and will also disrupt knowledge workers once thought to be immune from automation, according to a new 麦肯锡 report. The technology could produce up to $4.4 trillion in value annually, impacting higher-knowledge jobs in tech, banking and retail the most, according to the study.
• After flirting with the benchmark for weeks, 英伟达 has become the seventh U.S. company to cross the $1 trillion market cap threshold. The chip giant's shares are up 181% this year because of the artificial intelligence boom.
• Consulting giant 埃森哲 announced it will pour $3 billion into generative AI over the next three years and will double its artificial intelligence-focused staff to 80,000 through training, hiring and acquisitions. Accenture is also rolling out AI-powered models for nearly 20 industries and a client-facing platform to help companies refine their AI strategies.
• And last but not least, the European Parliament has passed what is one of the first major laws to regulate artificial intelligence – the EU AI Act – which imposes transparency requirements on AI providers and restraints on the riskiest use cases.

TechTok?

Catch up on the tech headlines you may have missed this week and what our members are saying about them on LinkedIn.

• Tech used to be a prized destination for ambitious new grads and early-career professionals – but it’s started giving way to the finance sector, according to new LinkedIn data.
• European Union regulators are not resting easy. They went after Google on Wednesday, charging the tech giant with violating antitrust laws and accusing it of abusing its power in online advertising to “undercut rivals.”
• Analysts remain divided on whether 苹果 's virtual reality headset, arriving on the U.S. market sometime next year, will actually sell. Meanwhile, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he's confident his rival mixed-reality headset — the Meta Quest 3, out this fall — will be the bigger hit due to its more accessible price of $499.
• Twitter has declined to pay its bills for Google’s cloud business — a decision that could directly impact the social platform’s trust and safety teams, reports Platformer.
• Some of the more than 8,000 Reddit, Inc. communities that have gone dark in a 48-hour protest over the company's new API pricing say they’ll stay private "indefinitely" until Reddit makes changes. Meanwhile, CEO Steve Huffman told staffers that the platform hasn’t seen “significant revenue impact,” urging workers to “block out the noise.”
• A growing number of startups are shutting down or pivoting their businesses as venture capital funding and bank loans become increasingly expensive and harder to score.

Movers and Shakers

Here’s keeping tabs on key executives on the move and other big pivots in the tech industry. Please send me personnel moves within emerging tech.

• SoftBank Group Corp. is planning to lay off up to 30% of its remaining Vision Fund staff, Reuters reports.
• 罗技 ’s CEO Bracken Darrell is stepping down, and will be replaced by board member Guy Gecht to serve as interim CEO.
• SurveyMonkey has promoted Eric Johnson to CEO, and also will shun its brand name Momentive.
• Sequoia Capital has hired Julien Bek , previously a principal with Accel , as a London-based partner, Business Insider reports.?
• Glilot Capital Partners has hired Neil Sherman , formerly managing director at 瑞信 , as a venture partner.
• Redpoint has promoted Jordan Segall to partner.?

ICYMI: Greycroft 's Ian Sigalow joined me for this week's edition of #VCWednesdays, where he explained why he's still bullish on mixed reality. Catch the whole interview here.

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