Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is betting big on AI agents, and the numbers are backing him up. In the company's latest quarterly results, Benioff announced that Salesforce has closed 200 deals for its recently released AgentForce platform, a staggering figure considering the platform only became available on October 24th.

Benioff's enthusiasm for AgentForce is palpable, and he's not just whistling Dixie. The company plans to hire 1,400 salespeople to help close the many more deals it's working on, and the pipeline is already filled with thousands of potential transactions. The list of AgentForce customers is impressive, with names like FedEx, Adecco, Accenture, ACE Hardware, IBM, and RBC Wealth Management.

The success of AgentForce is driving Salesforce's revenue projections, with the company now expecting to bring in $37.8 to $38 billion for its fiscal year, an 8% to 9% increase over the previous year. This growth is largely attributed to the strength of its AI products, which are clearly resonating with customers.

Benioff's vision for AgentForce is ambitious, to say the least. He expects Salesforce customers to deploy one billion AI agents within the next year, allowing companies to have an unlimited workforce. "These agents are not tools. They are becoming collaborators. They're working 24/7 to analyze data, make decisions, take action," Benioff said on the conference call.

Salesforce's advantage in the AI agent space lies in its ability to train AgentForce on the up to 300 petabytes of actual company data it manages. This, according to Benioff, will result in "remarkably low hallucinogenic performance." Other startups are working to solve the hallucination problem, as well as issues like memory and state, necessary to turn AI agents into actual digital collaborators.

As the year of AI comes to a close, it's clear that enterprises have found a direction for their AI investments. After experimenting with various AI initiatives, the answer is apparently AI agents for sales and customer service. Salesforce isn't alone in chasing this killer enterprise AI app, but its position as a incumbent with access to vast amounts of customer data gives it a significant advantage.

It's worth noting that Salesforce will be hiring humans to help sell its AI technology, which may seem counterintuitive. However, this move could suggest that AI will create jobs, not just replace them. Additionally, Salesforce will be equipping its sales humans with AI sales development representatives, further blurring the lines between human and digital labor.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, one thing is certain – Salesforce is positioning itself as a leader in the space. With its AgentForce platform, the company is poised to revolutionize the way businesses approach sales and customer service. Whether Benioff's vision of one billion AI agents becomes a reality remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Salesforce is betting big on AI, and it's paying off.