Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on ethical AI took center stage at Dreamforce as he called on technology leaders to prioritize developer responsibility and community safety. “We want AI to be held responsible and be ethical,” stated Marc Benioff on Tuesday. Consequently, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called on technology leaders to exercise deep social responsibility when it comes to ethical use of AI during his Dreamforce keynote in San Francisco. Furthermore, his remarks arrive amidst growing Silicon Valley debates sparked by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s demand for an industrywide slowdown in frontier model deployment.
“We don’t want individuals hurt,” warns Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
Specifically, Benioff drew direct parallels between early social media oversight failures and current generative AI development risks. In 2018, the executive famously declared Facebook as “the new cigarettes” while demanding aggressive federal regulatory oversight.
“A lot of companies got hurt, a lot of individuals got hurt through social media,” noted Benioff. “We don’t want that to happen in AI.”
| Executive Leader | Key Quote & Core Directive | Strategic Context |
| Marc Benioff (Salesforce CEO) | “We want you to be ethical in your actions and how you take care of your communities.” | Calling for developer accountability without stopping technical innovation |
| Dario Amodei (Anthropic CEO) | “I think that’s the way to lead the industry forward, to set an example.” | Demanding technical safeguards catch up with high-capability frontier models |
“We want you to be ethical in your actions,” notes Marc Benioff
Furthermore, the Salesforce founder avoided directly attacking AI startups or endorsing mandatory development pauses. Instead, he argued that developers must proactively evaluate societal ripple effects as technology advances rapidly.
“This technology is very powerful,” emphasized Benioff. “We look at a light on our brethren in San Francisco and all over the world.”
Meanwhile, Salesforce actively collaborates with Anthropic, and Amodei joined Benioff on stage during the opening keynote. Therefore, as Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on ethical AI shapes industry dialogue, major tech firms continue establishing self-regulatory safety frameworks.

