More than 43,000 people are expected in San Francisco for Dreamforce this week, as leading figures in artificial intelligence gather amid growing concern in Silicon Valley and Washington that the technology is advancing faster than safety measures can keep up.
Salesforce’s annual conference begins on Tuesday, 15 September, at the Moscone Center and runs until 17 September. Artificial intelligence and so-called AI agents, which can perform tasks with limited human supervision, are expected to dominate discussions.
Among the prominent speakers are Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei. Salesforce has also listed a conversation between Mr Benioff and Mr Altman on “advancing the AI frontier” and the use of the technology in business.
The event comes days after Mr Amodei called for the industry to slow the development of advanced AI models, warning that progress could outstrip society’s ability to understand and control the systems being built.
Mr Altman has backed the call for companies to “pace the frontier” and said OpenAI would introduce independent evaluators with access to its systems. Elon Musk has also publicly supported Mr Amodei’s position.
The warnings have intensified scrutiny in Washington, where lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about the risks posed by increasingly capable AI. Senator Josh Hawley has opened an investigation into an incident involving OpenAI systems, while Democratic congressman Ted Lieu has called for stronger assurances that AI models and agents could be shut down if necessary.
Despite the calls for caution, the mood among many Dreamforce attendees remains optimistic. Supporters of the technology argue that AI could transform business, research and public services, provided safeguards develop alongside its capabilities.
The conference is therefore expected to provide a prominent stage for both sides of the argument: the Silicon Valley push to expand the use of AI and the growing demand from researchers and policymakers for tighter oversight of how quickly it advances.
