Salesforce’s Marc Benioff says Copilot is “Clippy 2.0”

Whereas Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella final yr in contrast the importance of Copilot’s launch to that of historic applied sciences just like the PC and the web, Benioff stated in an X submit Thursday that Copilot shouldn’t be definitely worth the hype (to place it evenly). 

“While you take a look at how Copilot has been delivered to clients, it’s disappointing. It simply doesn’t work, and it doesn’t ship any degree of accuracy,” he wrote.

Benioff additionally known as Copilot “Clippy 2.0” and implied it might be as a lot of a failure as Microsoft’s retired paperclip assistant meant to assist customers craft Phrase paperwork and save paperwork amongst different issues.

“I’ve but to search out anybody who’s had a transformational expertise with Microsoft Copilot or the pursuit of coaching and retraining customized LLMs,” he wrote.

Copilot was launched by Microsoft final yr to assist customers be extra productive by helping within the creation of PowerPoints, Excel paperwork and extra utilizing synthetic intelligence.

While you take a look at how Copilot has been delivered to clients, it’s disappointing. It simply doesn’t work, and it doesn’t ship any degree of accuracy. Gartner says it’s spilling knowledge all over the place, and clients are left cleansing up the mess. So as to add insult to damage, clients are…

— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) October 17, 2024

Benioff’s feedback had been the most recent assault in what has turn into a monthslong feud with Microsoft and its AI product. Benioff additionally in contrast Copilot to Clippy in an interview with Bloomberg throughout the firm’s annual Dreamforce occasion. And in August, throughout the firm’s second-quarter earnings name, Benioff stated “Microsoft has disenchanted so many purchasers with AI.”

In his most up-to-date tirade in opposition to Microsoft’s AI, Benioff linked to an article overlaying his feedback throughout a podcast interview through which he expanded on his Copilot criticism. Benioff cited a report within the interview from analysis agency Gartner, which discovered that solely 6% of the 132 IT leaders it surveyed had accomplished a pilot and had been transferring to wide-scale adoption of the product of their organizations, Enterprise Insider reported.

Microsoft didn’t instantly reply to Fortune’s request for remark. 

Within the interview, Benioff additionally overvalued Salesforce’s new AI product, Agentforce, which it launched in September. The suite of AI instruments—”what AI was meant to be,” in Benioff’s phrases—helps corporations analyze knowledge and make choices in service, gross sales, advertising, and commerce. Agentforce is already being piloted by corporations corresponding to OpenTable and the Wyndham lodge chain.

Microsoft’s company vice chairman of AI at work, Jared Spataro, advised Yahoo Finance that its variety of 10,000 seat subscriptions had doubled, and amongst its clients had been giant corporations like Disney, Dow, and Novartis. 

However as for Copilot’s future success, Benioff isn’t holding his breath. 

“I don’t suppose Copilot might be round. I don’t suppose clients will use it, and I feel that we’ll see the transformation of enterprises with brokers, and Agentforce would be the primary provider,” he stated.