Taking the artificial out of intelligence: Salesforce is turning trust into a brand

The term AI tends to conjure images of robots, computers and circuit boards. But you wouldn’t know it standing in the middle of Dreamforce. Salesforce’s city-shaking three-day conference brings 40,000 people from across the world to San Francisco.

And this year it transformed the city’s Moscone Convention Center into an adult summer camp, complete with a faux garden strewn across a street that was shut down for the show. Cars, cyclists and jaywalkers were replaced by deck chairs, grass and even a custom-built waterfall.

Image: Tegan Jones

Nothing about the aesthetics of Dreamforce screamed AI, besides the signs nestled amongst the faux flowers, trees and hidden speakers pumping out relaxing bird chirps. And that was very much by design.

Image: Tegan Jones

Dreamforce 2023 heralded the release of Saleforce’s Einstein 1 platform, a revamped version of its existing platform with some powerful new generative AI tools at its centre.

But that wasn’t the only thing that was being advertised at Dreamforce. The company was also highlighting the “trust layer” baked into its product — the checks and balances put in place to mitigate toxicity, mask data and audit the AI.

Salesforce took the legitimate questions the world has around trusting AI and made it a key message of its conference.

And behind this was perhaps the more important message — that Salesforce itself was who you should have faith in when it comes to dipping your toes in the vast AI waters.

Image: Tegan Jones

If this wasn’t evident enough by the decor, it was certainly driven home in the opening keynote.

Co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff, along with a suite of executives took to the stage — a cloud shape structure in the very middle of the room — but didn’t stay there for long.

Most of the announcements and demonstrations took place as they weaved amongst the crowd of Salesforce employees and other punters. There was no teleprompter or physical script. Instead, they spoke directly down the barrel of a moving camera. Directly to their customers.

Image: Tegan Jones

An hour down the road in Cupertino, Apple CEO Tim Cook was revealing his own new product — the iPhone 15 with the long-awaited USB-C port mandated by the European Union.

Between the elevated stage and pre-recorded demonstrations where execs were far removed from the crowd, it made for a stark contrast.

Benioff and his team were building trust through proximity and taking the artificial out of the intelligence. Salesforce was positioning itself not only as a player in the ‘AI revolution’, but as a reliable leader.

This set the tone for the entire week, which consisted of a plethora of talks aimed at educating Salesforce customers on AI, including the ethical implications and need for the human element. These were contrasted with sessions addressing climate change and the need to protect the environment.

Image: Tegan Jones

Ethics and the environment living side by side at this conference was important to the big message — one that permeated the entire conference —  it’s early days when it comes to AI, but this is how Salesforce is approaching it: differently.

Benioff didn’t shy away from this point during his keynote, taking aim at the big tech competition.

“The narrative that they have around AI is not the narrative we have. We look at things very differently. And we are not afraid to say things that others are afraid to say,” Benioff said.

“They’re using your data to make money. Your data is not our product.”

Overall, the week was a masterclass in marketing and brand building.

Placing AI against the backdrop of nature, Benioff has positioned his approach to AI as real, everyday, and accessible. It’s not unnatural, intimidating, or unobtainable… if you place your trust in Salesforce.

The author travelled to San Francisco as a guest of Salesforce.