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The AI relationship drama continues
Salesforce apparently got the “it’s not you, it’s me” treatment from the OpenAI-Microsoft universe. According to Marc Benioff, Microsoft shut Salesforce out of OpenAI, and that forced Salesforce to look elsewhere for its AI wingman.
Enter Anthropic
So now Salesforce is betting on Anthropic. Not exactly a consolation prize, either. Benioff said the move could be worth “tens of billions,” which is corporate-speak for: this could get very big, very fast if customers actually adopt it.
For investors, the important bit is that Salesforce’s AI story keeps getting more concrete. This isn’t just splashy demo day theater anymore — it’s about where the company’s AI stack comes from, who it partners with, and whether those relationships turn into real revenue.
Why you should care
- Salesforce needs AI to be more than a buzzword-and-slide-deck exercise.
- Anthropic gives it another path to bundle AI into products customers already pay for.
- The drama with Microsoft and OpenAI also shows how competitive the AI ecosystem has become. Everyone wants the good chips, the good models, and the good distribution.
Big picture: Salesforce is still trying to turn AI from a nice keynote line into an actual money machine. If this Anthropic bet sticks, the payoff could be huge. If not, well, the AI dating app keeps getting more complicated.