Dreamforce 2023: All the day-three announcements

Not long to go now until the opening keynote here at the Moscone Center. 

A torrent of attendees flowing into the keynote theatre right now to the sound of some groovy acoustic beats. 

While we're waiting for the keynote to begin, why not check out some of our coverage of Dreamforce announcements so far? 

Salesforce has already unveiled a raft of new product announcements, including the launch of the Einstein Copilot assistant and an extension to its partnership with Google Workspace. 

You can find these here: 

• Salesforce and Google confirm Workspace integration in partnership extension

• Salesforce launches Einstein Copilot in sweeping update to AI assistant

Leah McGowen-Hare, SVP for the Trailblazer community, is up on stage first today with a few comments to kick things off at Dreamforce 2023. 

Salesforce "doesn't do basic", McGowan-Hare says. This year at Dreamforce the company is kicking things up a notch. 

"We are now the biggest AI event."

There are a lot of newcomers to Dreamforce this year. A significant portion of the crowd just stood up to show they're a newbie. A real statement on the popularity of the conference and how it's positioning itself as the leading AI event. 

A touching moment of remembrance for the people of Maui this morning ahead of the keynote session. 

Mike Hess is the first trailblazer up on stage this morning. A truly inspirational story. 

Mike lost his eyesight in his early 20s, but didn't let this hold him back. Mike founded the Blind Institute of Technology to help people with disabilities across the United States. 

A rapturous applause for Mike as he joins Leah on the stage here at Dreamforce. 

BIT works closely with Salesforce to support its members and to engage with employers across the US to help organizations tap into one of the most under-utilized workforce demographics in the country. 

Not long until Marc Benioff joins us. But before then we're getting some live music from Dave Matthews. Good vibes at Dreamforce this morning. 

Here we go. Marc Benioff has arrived. A rather subdued arrival, admittedly. For a moment nobody seemed to know where exactly he was. 

But he's on the stage now and we are ready to go today. 

"We have a fantastic Dreamforce put together for you. It's incredible who's showing up for you. We usually have visionaries and entertainers, but a new chapter has opened in AI this year."

Benioff isn't just bigging this up. The guest speaker list is a roster of some of the world's most impactful innovators and tech leaders. Sam Altman, arguably, the pick of the bunch. 

This is the most sustainable Dreamforce ever. More than 5,000 square feet of biodegradable signage, 10 million gallons of water conserved, and 100% compostable packaging. 

Salesforce is absolutely flying, Benioff says. The third-biggest software company in the world at present, except in Japan. In Japan it's the second-biggest. 

The company has had an exceptional year so far despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, exceeding expectations in recent earnings reports and growing revenue. 

This growth is impressive and has been underpinned by a sharp focus on the company's values. Salesforce has invested millions in supporting non-profits, public schools, and charities across the United States and abroad. 

Huge impact. 

"That makes Salesforce in an unprecedented position in San Francisco. We've given more than $100 million to hospitals and to public schools. We're very proud of that at Salesforce," he says. 

"We hope this inspires you not just to make a great product, but to improve the world, to use your technology and leadership to make the world a better place."

We're onto AI now. We're in the midst of a revolution, Benioff says. It's changing the way we work, it's changing industries, and it's changing Salesforce's future outlook and approach. 

Generative AI is a source of huge excitement across the global tech industry, but there are challenges. There are risks, and it's important to acknowledge this. 

"We have to start thinking about what we're doing with this technology," Benioff says. 

Salesforce is very conscious of how it's using generative AI, how this will benefit customers, but also how this might have a negative impact. 

Refreshing to hear this from Benioff. Many tech leaders have shrugged off the issue of trust and safety in recent months, but he's vocal on this. 

The AI trust gap is the number one priority for CEOs globally, Salesforce research shows. 

Similarly, 52% of consumers day they don't believe AI is safe and secure. 

Salesforce hopes to change perceptions here and foster greater trust among global businesses. Start with trust, and build from there. 

Hallucinations are an issue that Benioff and Salesforce hope to address and curtail. 

"Some people call them 'hallucinations', I call them lies," he says. 

Benioff officially unveils the Einstein 1 platform, announced today. 

"We want to build the trust AI platform for customer companies," Benioff says. "This is very exciting". 

Einstein aims to make everyone more productive, intelligent, and efficient. But fundamentally this platform is centered around trust. 

The Einstein 1 Platform is "our life's work", Benioff says. This represents the pinnacle of 25 years; worth of AI innovation and product design. All roads have led to this moment, it seems. 

That's a bold statement from Benioff. If Einstein represents the firm's "life's work" then we're at a very important juncture in the history of the firm. It's entering the future in a very strong position. 

Einstein 1 Platform is the "first predictive and generative AI for CRM", Benioff says. 

This represents a game changer both for the industry and for Salesforce, positioning it as the go-to AI CRM. 

Again, Benioff reiterates that this has been the result of more than a decade's worth of AI research and innovation. The current generative AI wave has come at the best possible time for the company. It's been innovating in the space for years. 

"We want to get to AI nirvana," he says. They're almost there...almost. 

This AI revolutionize needs to be democratized, Benioff says. An open ecosystem approach to AI innovation is key to ensuring that everyone can maximize their use of generative AI and capitalize on the benefits it can unlock. 

This isn't all talk, either. Salesforce has doubled down on its support for AI innovation across the industry through it's Salesforce Ventures fund. 

Earlier this year the firm unveiled a £250 million fund to support dynamic startups operating in the AI space. Two months later, Salesforce doubled the fund. 

Salesforce is putting its money where its mouth is, in this regard, Benioff says.

This isn't just an AI revolution, either. It's at trust revolution, he says. 

"The tenets of trusted, and ethical, and humane use" are critical, Benioff insists. 

A few years ago, Salesforce created a chief trust officer "way before anyone else" to address trust issues surrounding artificial intelligence, Benioff says. 

"We advance responsible AI globally, and transparency builds trust," Benioff says. 

"We all know what happens when AI can go very wrong. Let's keep it going in the right direction."

And with that, Benioff hands the stage over to Parker Harris, co-founder and chief technology officer at Salesforce.

Salesforce has specifically focused on the Einstein Trust Layer in a bid to build trust with customers and protect their data. 

The Einstein Trust Layer works by creating layers between LLMs and customer data and platforms. It's a dynamic approach to ensuring data security and keeping customers safe. 

We're onto the Einstein 1 Data Cloud announcement now from Harris. This is a hyperscale data engine inside Salesforce that connects customer data spanning multiple business functions. 

Sales, service, marketing, commerce. All of it is integrated. 

"All of your data lakes will integrate with our data cloud. We don't care if you're using AWS, Databricks, Snowflake. We're partnering with all of these companies," Harris says. 

We're getting a demo just now. Sanjna Parulekar from Einstein and Data Cloud product marketing is up next to give us a run through of how both platforms work. 

"It all starts with connecting your data. We've all been talking about low code today. But with no-code you can connect to any data within your organization," she says. 

This about "harmonizing" data, Parulekar says. 

The depth of integration here is quite remarkable. We're talking about an entire application and data estate being seamlessly integrated in a highly efficient manner. 

The productivity benefits alone for organizations are a source of huge excitement. 

We're back to Parker Harris now to round things off in his keynote speech. 

The AI revolution is also a customer revolution, Harris says. Now we have David Schmaier up next to discuss how generative AI is creating impactful changes among Salesforce customers. 

Another product announcement from Schmaier there with the Einstein Copilot assistant. 

"Einstein 1 just got better and stronger with Copilot," he says.