Do you also enjoy when two companies have a rivalry over a specific topic? Because today, we’re talking about a recent showdown between Microsoft and Salesforce .
So what’s this rivalry all about? you might ask. Well, what was the first thought we all had when AI made its debut? Right! When will they start replacing humans? And that’s exactly what these two companies are doing—competing over who does it better!
Now, don’t go yelling “Robots are taking our jobs,” because we’re talking about much simpler things than that. Let’s dive into the details.
AI AGENTS.
AI Agents are the reason this whole rivalry started, with Microsoft introducing their solution for how businesses can create their own AI Agents through the Copilot Studio during their “AI Tour” event in London. Okay, so why the rivalry? you ask. Because Microsoft’s announcement came just a month after Salesforce introduced their own solution, which, of course, they believe is superior!
In fact, the CEO of Salesforce made a post mocking Microsoft’s efforts, calling it a panic move. Salesforce’s solution, named Agentforce, allows businesses to create their own AI agents tailored to their needs and directly connected to their customer data. And that’s the key difference compared to the copilot-style AI systems Microsoft offers.
https://x.com/Benioff/status/1848812806243541359
According to Zahra Bahrololoumi, CEO of Salesforce for the UK and Ireland, Microsoft’s tools may be useful for everyday tasks, but they don’t serve the needs of large enterprises as well. Why? They aren’t connected to customer data and can’t accurately and responsibly represent the company.
At the end of the day, what’s important is that through these kinds of rivalries, companies often evolve and develop new technologies faster. And that’s where we all benefit.
Yeah, but you haven’t told us yet, what exactly are these AI Agents? Alright, in simple terms, they’re AI-powered Virtual Assistants that companies can customize with their own data and have them perform tasks like, for example, Customer Support.
Think of it as a more advanced chatbot that responds based on what message the user sends, rather than working through a series of pre-defined messages. It’s like having a human on the other side, except there’s no human. Honestly, how well do you think this is going to work? Anyway, moving on.
The company that manages to do it better and create the AI Agents that businesses will need will also make the most profit. And when I say profit I mean lots of billions of dollars in revenues and maybe trillions on market cap gains.