Salesforce President Marc Benioff is advocating for an AI-based RoboCop to help combat crime in San Francisco. This comes just days after he unexpectedly supported President Trump’s request to send in the National Guard.
Benioff is still dealing with the implications of his sudden political shift. During a recent talk at his company’s Dreamforce conference, he mused about a future where humanoid robots could monitor the city streets that have seen calls for military assistance.
“Do you think we could sell something like this to the SFPD?” Benioff asked Brett Adcock, CEO of the robotics firm Figure AI, while observing a demonstration of a so-called “synthetic human” tidying up a living room.
He pointed out to the police that with a significant number of officers being lost, robots could potentially take on some roles, even if they weren’t armed. “Is that really how we want to address staffing issues in our cities?” he questioned.
Adcock sidestepped the issue, boasting about creating “new species of living things” and emphasized that their machines aren’t designed for any military use.
Benioff responded with a quip, noting that Google had previously claimed similar things.
On stage Wednesday, he suggested that if robots could “self-replicate,” they might as well determine their own roles. “Why not let them choose what they want to do?” he added.
Adcock, appearing increasingly anxious, reassured the audience that their machines would not be intended to cause harm, saying, “It’s not fun for us at all.”
Some attendees were left unclear on whether Benioff was being serious, which led to awkward laughter throughout the crowd.
The conversation unfolded just days after a New York Times interview where Benioff, who has traditionally been a strong liberal advocate, expressed his “full support” for Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to tackle crime in San Francisco.
“We’re short on police officers, so if robots can fill that gap, I’m all for it,” he mentioned in the interview.
This statement didn’t sit well with local leaders. Mayor Daniel Lurie and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins swiftly condemned the idea, highlighting that crime rates in San Francisco have been dropping, reportedly the lowest in 70 years.
“We don’t want scenes filled with tear gas and chaos,” Jenkins remarked. “People trust us to maintain order.”
Benioff later modified his position, emphasizing his focus on safety as he prepared for the influx of 45,000 attendees at Dreamforce. He even pledged $1 million to help recruit new officers for the SFPD.
Instead of retreating from controversy, he dove deeper into speculative ideas about robots potentially replacing human police officers altogether.
City Manager Myrna Melgar responded to Benioff’s comments, asserting they were out of touch with what the residents want.
Democratic Representative Matt Haney echoed this sentiment, saying, “Supporting the National Guard’s presence is not the way to help our city.” He criticized linking Benioff’s support for controversial national policies to local issues.
Amidst the backlash, Benioff dismissed the criticism, maintaining that the core problem is the shortage of police, whether human or machine.
President Trump has increased the deployment of National Guard troops to various major cities, especially those with Democratic leadership, claiming it’s essential for crime control and federal facility protection. These actions have ignited both legal challenges and political disputes, with some viewing it as governmental overreach while others, particularly in Republican-led areas, have welcomed the assistance.
