Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com Inc (CRM  ), has given a ringing endorsement to Alphabet Inc's (GOOG  ) (GOOGL  ) Google for its artificial intelligence voice assistant, Gemini Live.

What Happened: In a recent post on X, Benioff expressed his admiration for the AI tool, praising its zero latency and labeling it the "future of consumer AI." He also commended Google CEO Sundar Pichai for the innovation.

Benioff's positive review of Gemini Live comes in the wake of his public criticism of Microsoft Corp's (MSFT  ) AI assistant, Copilot, which he has previously described as "disappointing."

Google launched the smartphone app for Gemini Live on Apple Inc.'s (AAPL  ) App Store just a few months after making the virtual assistant free for users. The app allows users to interact with an AI chatbot through natural conversation.

Why It Matters: Benioff's endorsement of Gemini Live is significant in the context of the ongoing AI race among tech giants. This development underscores the growing importance of AI in consumer and business applications, as well as the increasing competition among companies to develop cutting-edge AI tools.

On Sunday, Elon Musk predicted that AI would surpass doctors and lawyers after a study revealed that OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 outperformed medical professionals in diagnosing illnesses. This further emphasizes the rapid advancements in AI technology and its potential to revolutionize various industries.

Meanwhile, OpenAI is set to launch a new AI agent, codenamed "Operator," in January. This development adds another layer to the AI competition, as companies continue to push the boundaries of AI capabilities.