Rolling out artificial intelligence tools without the right systems in place could have “catastrophic” consequences for businesses, the UK head of the cloud-computing company Salesforce has warned.
“AI is making such profound decisions on behalf of people,” Zahra Bahrololoumi, chief executive of Salesforce’s UK and Ireland business, told The Times. “You can’t just release it in the wild. Unfortunately, some companies do. They think they can build it all themselves, but they learn very painful lessons that you actually do need guardrails and safety precautions.
“If AI doesn’t have access to the right data, or doesn’t have the right guardrails, it could be catastrophic for businesses.”
Zahra Bahrololoumi
Nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of organisations in the UK said they were using AI this year, according to a recent report from Amazon Web Services, up from 52 per cent last year.
While many companies have reported productivity gains from the new technology, issues like data security and the accuracy of AI tools have also posed serious problems. Gartner, a research firm, estimated that over 40 per cent of agentic AI projects would be cancelled by the end of next year owing to problems like inadequate risk controls and unclear return on investment.
Salesforce itself has faced questions about the future of its business model in the age of AI. Some have warned that AI tools such as Anthropic’s Claude Code could threaten the software-as-a-service subscription model, which companies such as Salesforce pioneered.
In the long run, some argue that AI’s increasing capabilities will enable customers to perform some tasks in-house rather than rely on external providers. Shares in Salesforce have lost about a third of their value this year as part of a global sell-off which has knocked trillions off the valuations of software companies.
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Bahrololoumi said that the company’s data would be indispensable for businesses looking to deploy accurate AI tools. “As our customers move from experimentation and pilots to implementation, they all realise that the value of AI comes from having access to real-time enterprise data — data that is grounded within their context, and that the veracity of that data is solid,” she said.
In recent years Salesforce has released tools which make it easier for AI tools to interact with the company’s software, helping businesses to create what its boss Marc Benioff has called a “digital labour force”.
In 2024, Salesforce released Agentforce, a tool which enables autonomous AI agents to complete workflows alongside human workers on the company’s platform. Last month it also released Headless 360, which allows AI agents to interact with the company’s backend data directly rather than going through the standard user interface.
Marc Benioff introduced Agentforce 360 last yearMichael Short/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Salesforce will release its first quarter results on Wednesday, with investors expecting revenue to increase 12.5 per cent to $11.1 billion. Analysts at Barclays said: “We expect management to reiterate solid Agentforce traction and long-term potential, but believe it might take another quarter (or two) to meaningfully change the debate for longer-term investors.”