Salesforce cuts 1,000 jobs as AI push expands

Salesforce is restructuring its workforce by laying off over 1,000 employees while simultaneously hiring for AI-focused positions.

The core changes: Salesforce’s latest workforce adjustment reflects its strategic shift toward artificial intelligence while maintaining opportunities for internal mobility.

• The company is cutting more than 1,000 positions but is actively recruiting for roles related to AI product sales
• Affected employees will have the opportunity to apply for other positions within the organization
• The customer relationship management company currently employs 72,682 people, according to its latest annual filing

Recent history of restructuring: This latest round of layoffs follows a pattern of workforce adjustments at Salesforce over the past year.

• The company cut approximately 700 jobs in January 2024
• An additional 300 positions were eliminated in July 2024
• The specific divisions impacted by the current layoffs have not been disclosed

AI momentum and growth: Salesforce has been making significant strides in artificial intelligence development and implementation.

• The company’s “Agentforce” AI-powered virtual representative platform has secured over 1,000 paid deals
• In January 2025, Salesforce AI Research launched TACO, a family of multimodal large action models
• TACO is designed to enhance performance on complex, multi-step problems requiring reasoning across multiple data types, including images, text, and calculations

Reading the strategic signals: These simultaneous layoffs and AI-focused hiring suggest Salesforce is executing a deliberate transformation rather than purely cost-cutting measures, positioning itself more aggressively in the AI market while restructuring traditional business units to align with this new direction.