Salesforce CEO Retreats from Military Deployment Comments
Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff has reversed his position on deploying military forces in San Francisco after initially supporting former President Donald Trump’s proposed intervention, according to reports. Benioff, whose company serves as San Francisco’s largest private employer, reportedly made the controversial remarks during his company’s Dreamforce conference, creating tension with his established liberal political alignment.
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Sources indicate that Benioff’s comments divided technology leaders, prompting one Salesforce board member to resign in protest while drawing praise from Elon Musk. David Sacks, a major Trump donor appointed as AI and crypto advisor, reportedly argued that a “targeted operation” could address urban challenges, while Benioff had suggested troops could assist with policing duties.
The CEO issued an apology on Friday, stating he had “listened closely to my fellow San Franciscans and our local officials” and no longer believed National Guard intervention was necessary. Analysts suggest Benioff may have achieved his security objectives for Dreamforce while maintaining political relationships, as Trump subsequently referenced potential military action in San Francisco during public comments.
Major AWS Outage Disrupts Global Digital Services
Amazon Web Services experienced a significant service disruption on Monday that affected numerous applications and websites worldwide, according to industry reports. The outage impacted popular platforms including Snapchat, Roblox, Signal, and Duolingo, along with Amazon’s own retail operations and Ring doorbell services.
Downdetector, a service that monitors internet outages, recorded over 1,000 affected companies globally with approximately 6.5 million user reports of service problems. The incident highlighted concerns about concentration in cloud computing infrastructure, with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google dominating the market.
Dr. Corinne Cath-Speth of human rights organization Article 19 stated that diversification in cloud computing is urgently needed, noting that “the infrastructure underpinning democratic discourse, independent journalism and secure communications cannot be dependent on a handful of companies.”
OpenAI’s Sora Faces Backlash Over Celebrity Likeness Usage
OpenAI’s recently launched Sora video generation application has drawn criticism for enabling users to create content featuring unauthorized likenesses of deceased public figures, according to reports. The AI tool has reportedly been used to generate videos depicting Martin Luther King Jr. in inappropriate contexts, prompting his estate to complain and OpenAI to restrict usage of his likeness.
The report states that similar concerns have been raised by family members of other notable figures. Malcolm X’s daughter described AI-generated videos of her father as “deeply disrespectful and hurtful,” while George Carlin’s daughter characterized clips using her father’s likeness as “overwhelming, and depressing.” Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda Williams expressed frustration via Instagram, stating that such content was “NOT what he’d want” and criticizing the reduction of real people’s legacies to “horrible, TikTok slop.”
Industry observers suggest that OpenAI has demonstrated different risk tolerance compared to established tech companies like Meta, which released a similar video generation tool without deepfake capabilities. Google’s previous experience with its image-generation app, which was temporarily shut down after producing historically inaccurate content, illustrates the challenges companies face in managing AI ethics while maintaining competitive positioning.
This coverage synthesizes reports from multiple news sources and does not represent original investigation.
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References & Further Reading
This article draws from multiple authoritative sources. For more information, please consult:
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/11/openai-sora-dead-celebrities-ai/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesforce
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_executive_officer
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services
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