More than 43,000 people are expected at Moscone Center this week for Dreamforce, bringing some of the biggest names in AI to San Francisco as the city’s tourism industry reaches its highest visitation levels since 2019.
Dreamforce gets underway Tuesday with more than 43,000 people expected to descend on Moscone Center for Salesforce’s annual three-day conference, as ABC 7 reports.
AI will, of course, dominate the event, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly among the marquee speakers. There will also be a planned conversation between Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Altman about the future of AI and its use in business.
The timing is particularly notable following Amodei’s call for a slower pace of AI development after an Anthropic employee left the company over concerns that increasingly powerful AI could eventually threaten humanity. Altman has also made recent moves around OpenAI’s future, including putting plans for an initial public offering on hold after reports that the company was preparing for a potential December IPO.
According to ABC 7, Dreamforce attendees were largely optimistic about the technology.
“There are dangers, but there are a lot of opportunities as well. It's up to us to make it right,” an attendee from Switzerland told the outlet.
The Chronicle reports that Salesforce is also using the conference to showcase new products and partnerships, including its recent deal with Anthropic called “Claudeforce,” which integrates Anthropic’s Claude chatbot with Salesforce’s customer relationship management products.
Dreamforce is also bringing a boost to San Francisco’s recovering tourism industry, with major conferences helping push visitation to its highest level since 2019. The conference is reportedly expected to generate $135 million in local revenue and 36,000 temporary jobs.
Salesforce has committed to keeping Dreamforce at Moscone Center through at least 2027, per the Chronicle, reversing a 2023 threat from CEO Marc Benioff to move the conference to another city over safety concerns. Erin Oles, Salesforce’s chief marketing officer, said interest in in-person events remains strong despite the rise of remote work.
“We’re seeing a deep connection with gathering in person and having these one-on-one conversations,” Oles told the paper.
Oles said other companies have also sought Salesforce’s feedback on Moscone Center as a conference venue, adding that the convention center and city government “help us shine.”
Related: Marc Benioff Threatens to Move Dreamforce Conference Out of SF Over Homelessness, Drug Use