Agentic AI Race

AI-driven agents are reigniting the rivalry between Microsoft and Salesforce, with both companies launching new tools designed to automate business tasks.

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At its recent “AI Tour” event in London, Microsoft introduced 10 new autonomous AI agents for its Dynamics 365 applications, spanning sales, finance, service, and supply chain management. “Think of agents as the new apps for an AI-powered world,” wrote Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s VP for AI at Work, likening these agents to fully autonomous digital workers capable of executing tasks for individuals, teams, or entire functions.

This announcement precedes the release of Salesforce’s competing Agentforce platform, set to debut for general use on Oct. 25. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has publicly criticized Microsoft’s AI technology, calling out Copilot’s data security risks and expressing doubts about its value for business customers.

Both companies are pushing to redefine the role of AI in enterprise operations. Microsoft, for instance, sees AI agents as a natural progression from assistive tools to fully autonomous task managers. It plans to launch the agents in public preview soon, including specialized ones for tasks like Sales Qualification and Financial Reconciliation. Meanwhile, Salesforce’s Agentforce is positioned as a purpose-built solution for enterprise-scale automation that tightly integrates with customer data.

Microsoft also shared notable case studies, highlighting productivity gains and cost savings achieved by customers using AI agents. Examples include Lumen Technologies, which projects annual savings of $50 million, and Honeywell, which has seen productivity improvements equivalent to adding 187 full-time employees.

As Microsoft expands its Copilot Studio to allow businesses to customize their own AI agents, both it and Salesforce are banking on the growing demand for AI-driven operational efficiency. This competition, fueled by substantial investments in AI, underscores a significant shift in enterprise software—from AI-enhanced assistants to fully autonomous digital agents driving productivity gains across industries.