UPDATED 02:12 EDT / AUGUST 25 2016

NEWS

Salesforce is building “Einstein,” the first comprehensive AI platform for CRM

Salesforce.com Inc. CEO has revealed the company is building a new artificial intelligence (AI) product called “Einstein,” in a lengthy interview with Forbes.

The article says that Salesforce’s Einstein project is the reason why the company decided to shell out a massive $390 million to acquire responsive-email firm Relate IQ and its CEO Steve Loughlin almost two years ago. In addition, the project also explains why Salesforce has acquired no less than six AI-related startups in the last couple of years.

“If this is not the next big thing, I don’t know what is,” Benioff told Forbes’ writer Alex Konrad.

The article portrays Benioff as a highly successful and hyper-energetic CEO who’s built one of the fastest growing and most innovative tech firms around, seeking new innovation to drive the next stage of the company’s growth. In the interview, Benioff was careful not to give too many details of Einstein away, but he has previously made clear the project is designed to add next-generation AI capabilities to Salesforce’s flagship customer relationship management solution.

Benioff said as much in a recent tweet, noting that Einstein will be “the first comprehensive AI platform for CRM.” And in a recent conference call with Wall Street analysts, Benioff offered a few more details, saying: “We are introducing this AI wrapper. Artificial intelligence is becoming part of Sales Cloud.”

Einstein won’t be the first time Salesforce has added AI capabilities to its products, however. It’s already done so with its SalesforceIQ Inbox app, which incorporates technology from RelateIQ and helps salespeople to prioritize their email inbox.

Salesforce will most likely launch Einstein at its Dreamforce conference, which will be held in San Francisco from Oct. 4 to Oct. 7, the Forbes article stated.

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