Salesforce spends $300M on Anthropic tokens, hires zero new engineers
AI now handles up to 50% of company workload, support staff halved.
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, revealed on the All-In podcast that the company expects to spend about $300 million on Anthropic tokens in 2025, with the bulk directed at internal coding tasks. Since January 2025, Salesforce has hired zero software engineers — a stark reflection of how AI is absorbing development work. Currently, AI handles between 30% and 50% of the company's overall workload, according to Benioff.
To further automate operations, Salesforce reduced its customer support staff from 9,000 to 5,000 by deploying AI agents. At the same time, its Agentforce product reached $800 million in annual recurring revenue, a 169% year-over-year increase. The money that previously funded payroll expansion is now flowing into token spend. This isn't a simple cost-cutting exercise; it's a structural shift in how the company allocates resources. The obvious question: will other enterprises follow Salesforce's template, or is this path viable only for companies that already sell AI-native products?
- $300M spent on Anthropic tokens in 2025, mostly for in-house coding.
- Zero software engineers hired since January 2025; AI handles 30-50% of workload.
- Support staff slashed from 9,000 to 5,000; Agentforce ARR hit $800M (up 169%).
Why It Matters
Salesforce's token spending vs. hiring freeze signals a permanent shift from labor to AI, redefining enterprise cost structures.