Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff shares video of robot that ‘costs less than a MacBook’

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has shared a video showcasing a robot, developed by Unitree, that he claims costs less than a MacBook. The video, posted on his social media, highlights the robot’s capabilities and its potential role in the future of “cheap, scalable digital labour.” Benioff linked the robot’s affordability and functionality to the advancements in AI, specifically citing Deepseek, an AI platform he says costs mere pennies to operate.
“Deepseek is AI that costs pennies. Unitree is Robots that cost less than a MacBook,” he said in a post.
“DeepSeek + Unitree G1 = the future of cheap, scalable digital labor. It’s not science fiction anymore,” he added, accompanied by heart and robot emojis.


Benioff's posts went beyond simply showcasing the robot. He also shared clips of renowned AI expert Kai-Fu Lee, emphasising Lee’s insights on the value of data in the AI landscape. According to Benioff, Lee’s observations underscore that while user interfaces and AI models are becoming commoditised, the real value lies in the data and metadata used to train these models.
“It's true what @kaifulee is saying: AI’s true gold isn't in the UI or model—they're both commodities—DeepSeek has proven that," noted Benioff.
“What breathes life into AI is the data & metadata that describes the data to the model—just like oxygen for us. The future's fortune lies in our data. Yes, Data is the new gold!”he added.

The Salesforce CEO appears to support a bold prediction about the future of AI business models, posing a challenge for established companies like OpenAI.
Benioff re-shared a post by Kai-Fu Lee, in which the former President of Google China can be heard saying, “The biggest revelation from Deepseek is that Open Source has won.”
“For a 1% difference in performance, it will be difficult for OpenAI to justify its price when the competition is free and formidable,” Lee said, citing an excerpt from his interview with Bloomberg.
These comments come amid intensifying competition in the AI sector, where open-source models are increasingly challenging proprietary systems on performance while offering significant cost advantages.