Salesforce is on an AI buying spree, but Wall Street still has its doubts

Salesforce has embarked on an acquisition spree to beef up its artificial intelligence capabilities. But it hasn't convinced Wall Street to change its mind and start viewing the company as an AI winner, not a loser. The latest notch on Salesforce's M & A belt is a $3.6 billion acquisition of AI customer service platform Fin. Announced two weeks ago, Salesforce said Fin's lead product is an AI agent that helps resolve complex customer queries across various platforms and channels including email, WhatsApp, Slack, live chat, and others. Agentic systems are capable of planning and executing a series of tasks for users with little human intervention; they go beyond responding to a prompt with a written response. Salesforce said Fin will complement the company's flagship Agentforce suite, with a particular focus on small-to-medium sizes businesses looking to quickly deploy the technology. Fin's agentic system is powered by its proprietary Apex AI model. The deal is expected to close toward the end of Salesforce's fiscal year, which ends in January. Salesforce has announced or completed at least six acquisitions since December, spanning across the technology spectrum. In addition to Fin, this month Salesforce said it will buy M3ter, a usage-based billing platform, and Contentful, a provider of content management systems whose customers include Kraft Heinz and Swiss shoemaker On . Terms of both deals were not disclosed, suggesting their value is on the smaller side. …