WSJ Tech News Briefing – Episode Summary

Episode: Salesforce’s Big Test in the AI Era
Date: September 9, 2025
Host: Bell Lin
Guests: Lisa Ward (WSJ Contributor), Dan Gallagher (WSJ "Heard on the Street" Columnist)

Overview

This episode dives into two major tech storylines:

1. The persistent gender gap in the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, including what drives that disparity and strategies for closing it.
2. Salesforce’s pivotal moment in the age of AI—facing existential investor fears that AI could render its core business obsolete, and how the company and its peers are adapting.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Gender Gap in Generative AI Tool Usage

Guest: Lisa Ward (WSJ Contributor)
Timestamps: 00:19 – 04:28

• Main Finding:
  Recent research finds a stark global gender gap in the usage of generative AI tools. Men are much more likely than women to use platforms like ChatGPT and Claude, a trend replicated across countries, income levels, and age groups.

  “What was kind of remarkable about their findings was that they really found it across the globe… described it as shocking.” – Lisa Ward, 01:38

• Data Highlights:

  • Women account for about 42% of ChatGPT users, 42.4% for Perplexity, but only 31.2% for Claude.
  • On smartphones, only 27.2% of ChatGPT users are women, indicating a larger mobile gap.

  “You see a real drop when you compare men to women overall and then with a smartphone.” – Lisa Ward, 02:06

• Replicated Findings:
  The gender gap persisted across 18 studies spanning 140,000 people, appearing in both work and personal use, and in regions from North America to Africa.

  “They looked at different groups across the globe and they were able to see this.” – Lisa Ward, 03:19

• Underlying Reasons:

  • Some women fear using AI could penalize them professionally—concerned it might be seen as a shortcut or lead to doubts about their skills.

  “Some of the women in the study said that they were concerned that using AI would penalize them professionally or allow their peers to question their competency.” – Bell Lin, 03:45

• Solutions Proposed:

  • Researchers advocate making generative AI use mandatory in workplaces and educational settings to ensure equity and prevent algorithms from amplifying male-biased behaviors.

  “Artificial intelligence learns from everybody… If men are the primary users, gender value could exacerbate gender biases or stereotypes.” – Lisa Ward, 04:02

2. Salesforce and the AI Challenge

Guest: Dan Gallagher (WSJ “Heard on the Street” Columnist)
Timestamps: 05:25 – 10:56

• Salesforce’s Unique Position:

  • As the largest pure-play cloud business software provider, Salesforce faces outsized scrutiny about its fate in the AI era, compared to tech giants like Microsoft and Oracle, which are more diversified.

  “They’re the largest company in the space of providing cloud based software to businesses.” – Dan Gallagher, 06:06

• The Existential Fear:

  • AI tools, especially those demonstrated by OpenAI, threaten to upend traditional software by enabling anyone—even non-coders—to create apps simply by describing them.

  “There’s become this kind of existential fear that AI is just going to eliminate the need essentially for those types of companies…” – Dan Gallagher, 06:06 “[OpenAI] demoed its latest ChatGPT release… to show how somebody who’s not a software coder could actually just tell the AI engine, ‘hey, I want an app that does this’...” – Dan Gallagher, 06:42

• Salesforce’s Reality Check:

  • The company is not “flailing,” but its sheer size makes percentage growth harder.
  • Wall Street wants to see their new AI suite (“Agent Force”) tangibly drive revenue growth, not just announcements or pilots.

  “What Wall Street’s expecting is… can this [AI] stuff sell and kind of rejuvenate that revenue growth…?” – Dan Gallagher, 07:42
  “But the fear… that AI tools are going to replace software, that’s way overblown because there’s so much complexity… a lot of rules and laws about what you can do with data.” – Dan Gallagher, 07:42

• Agent Force & Market Reception:

  • Salesforce has gained customers testing its AI features, but major, revenue-moving adoption remains limited.

  “There’s an assumption that these [Agent Force] deals are small and… companies are testing various things in AI but haven’t figured out how to widely adopt these kinds of things yet.” – Dan Gallagher, 08:54

• Peer Performance & Industry Clouds:

  • The whole business software sector, not just Salesforce, faces pressure. Cloud software stocks have underperformed—“the only tech subcategory that’s actually lost this year.”

  “If they can kind of overcome this, it’s going to help the category emerge from this worry in a much bigger way…” – Dan Gallagher, 10:09

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Global Shock at the Gender Gap:
  “What was kind of remarkable about their findings was that they really found it across the globe… described it as shocking.” – Lisa Ward, 01:38

• AI as a Leveler—and a Risk:
  “Artificial intelligence learns from everybody and develops in a way that is gender neutral. If men are the primary users, gender value could exacerbate gender biases or stereotypes.” – Lisa Ward, 04:02

• Existential Threat for Software Vendors:
  “[There’s] become this kind of existential fear that AI is just going to eliminate the need essentially for those types of companies…” – Dan Gallagher, 06:06

• Complexity Still Matters:
  “The fear overall… that AI tools are going to replace software, that’s way overblown because there’s so much complexity… a lot of rules and laws about what you can do with data.” – Dan Gallagher, 07:42

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:19: Bell Lin introduces the main topics: the gender gap in AI usage and Salesforce’s AI test
• 01:38 – 04:28: Lisa Ward analyzes findings and solutions to the gender gap in generative AI
• 05:25: Salesforce as a business software bellwether; why Wall Street is watching
• 06:42: Threat posed by code-generating AI like ChatGPT
• 07:42: Salesforce’s growth challenge and Wall Street expectations
• 08:54: Status and adoption of Salesforce’s “Agent Force” AI suite
• 10:09: Peer performance and the outlook for business software in the AI era

Episode Takeaways

• Gender disparity in AI tool usage is global and persistent, raising concerns about future workplace equity and algorithmic bias.
• Mandating AI adoption in workplaces and schools may help level the playing field and prevent biased AI development.
• Salesforce stands at a crossroads—a key test case for whether specialized business software providers can thrive in an AI-dominated landscape.
• Investor anxiety is widespread in the sector, but actual technological replacement of complex business software by AI remains a distant threat due to regulatory and functional realities.

This summary captures all impactful points and provides a clear roadmap to important moments and insights in the episode for listeners and non-listeners alike.