Salesforce: Its Biggest AI Threat Just Became Its Partner

Salesforce partnered with Anthropic to integrate Claude as the default AI reasoning engine across its products including Agentforce and Slack. The deal addresses investor concerns about AI disrupting Salesforce's business model while creating a powerful upsell opportunity, as AI features are exclusive to premium subscriptions. The stock surged 23% on the announcement, and Q2 results showed 11% revenue growth and 240% annualized growth for Agentforce to $1.5 billion.