Salesforce Exec Invites A.I. Bot to All Senior Staff Meetings
*By Jacqueline Corba*
Salesforce has saved a seat at its executive meetings for Einstein, an artificial intelligence-powered robot developed by the cloud computing company.
"The fact that we are using our own products to really drive our forecasting, it's pretty amazing," said Bob Stutz, CEO of Salesforce's Marketing Cloud. "It is really great to have that tool that you can use every single day to run your business."
Salesforce's chief executive, Marc Benioff, has been an outspoken proponent of the company's use of A.I., and said that Einstein has [been at every weekly senior staff meeting](http://fortune.com/2018/01/25/salesforce-benioff-einstein-davos-ai/) for the last year.
Stutz said Einstein pulls his weight on a team that has grown its quarterly revenue by 41 percent year over year.
"We are on an incredible tear right now," Stutz said in an interview with Cheddar. "It's really helping customers connect with their consumers across sales, marketing, service ー it's a real growth driver for us nowadays."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-salesforce-marketing-cloud-growth).
A planned summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump is in jeopardy. In a statement this morning, North Korea's foreign minister said the country has no interest in a "one-sided discussion" on its nuclear program. On Tuesday, North Korea also canceled planned talks with South Korea.
Starting today, Amazon Prime members will receive exclusive discounts at Whole Foods. Customers will now get 10% off hundreds of sale items in stores and will also get access to rotating weekly specials. The perks are only available in Florida as of today but will be rolled out nationwide starting this summer.
Chris Carter and James Peisker, co-founders of Porter Road, join us to talk about their expansion into the digital landscape. Porter Road is a whole animal butcher shop based in Nashville, but the founders recently decided to take their business online.
Rather than making the difficult decision to delete offensive tweets, the social media platform is tweaking its algorithm to suppress negative tweets based on how often the account has been flagged or muted by other users. Digiday's Kerry Flynn says the move plays into the company's strategy to promote "healthy" conversations.
The company, which is known for creating streaming hardware devices, has shifted gears to focus on growing its streaming services business. That unit, which generated more revenue than hardware for the first time in the latest quarter, now has 21 million active accounts.
More companies are offering TV streaming options, known as over-the-top (OTT), as viewership and ad dollars shift away from traditional cable TV. "There are just different audiences who want to interact with video and entertainment in different ways," said Richard Au, U.S. director of Amazon's over-the-top TV service.
The cryptocurrency trading platform launched four new products Tuesday, including a secure storage space for crypto assets. Eric Scro, Coinbase's vice president of finance, told Cheddar what was behind the launch.
The Seattle City Council passed a new law that will require companies making more than $20 million a year to pay a 'head tax.' Amazon and other Seattle-based companies will pay a tax of 14 cents per employee per hour worked, which comes out to roughly $275 per employee each year. The tax will raise money for affordable housing since home prices have risen recently in Seattle. In response, Amazon's vice president said this move "forces us to question our growth here." A Starbucks exec criticized the city for spending "without reforming and fail[ing] without accountability."
A number of top Tesla executives have left the company in the past few months. Aaron Cole, managing editor at Motor Authority, joins us to discuss whether investors should be worried that this 'drain brain' will have negative consequences for the electric carmaker. The company is ramping up production to meet its ambitious Model 3 targets.
Cheddar's Brad Smith speaks with Joe Gibbs, Pro Football Hall of Famer and owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, at a special event outside the New York Stock Exchange celebrating Stanley Black & Decker's 175th anniversary. Gibbs talks about how NASCAR is focusing on expanding its digital outreach to reach a younger audience. He also weighs in on the Supreme Court's decision to reverse a ban on sports gambling.
Facebook could use blockchain technology to flip its business model, giving its users control of how their data is used, says Joseph Lubin, the founder of Ethereum. Facebook announced earlier this month that it will explore blockchain technology, and Cheddar reported the social media company may create its own cryptocurrency.
Rideshare companies won't switch to autonomous cars for "some time to come," because it could lower the price of a ride, which could actually increase demand, says Harry Campbell, a longtime Uber and Lyft driver who is better known as The Rideshare Guy.
The decentralized ledger, which powers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is being "oversold," says Jimmy Song, Bitcoin developer and entrepreneur. The technology is often touted as a silver bullet that will upgrade several industries, but that "hype and promise" has yet to be proven. On the flip side, Song is bullish on Bitcoin, which he says has stood the test of time.
The company wants developers and entrepreneurs to build products that use its XRP cryptocurrency and digital ledger. As Ripple is working on ways to facilitate international transactions, "there's lots of other stuff you can do with XRP, and we want to help other people do that," says Cory Johnson, the chief market strategist at Ripple.
