Trailblazing with Artificial Intelligence: Insights from a Salesforce AI Researcher

Innovation doesn't just begin anywhere at Salesforce. It often begins with the Salesforce AI Research team who are dedicated to discovering the future of tech — exploring AI's limits, solving tough problems, and generating new knowledge for our company, customers, and the world.

But how does a career in tech research begin? Explore the journey of Can Qin, whose remarkable tale is defined by passion, dedication, trust, and community.

From PhD student to research scientist.

Can’s career path into the world of AI began with a deep passion for generative artificial intelligence and multi-modal learning. His focus was on developing techniques for video/image to text (understanding) and text to video/image (generation). He decided to pursue a Ph.D. from Northeastern University in Boston where he specialized in Transfer Learning and Efficient AI. In 2022, Can applied for an internship on the Salesforce AI Research team.

After he’d returned to Northeastern, the Salesforce Research team reached out to Can, asking him to return for a contractor role, indicating his exceptional contributions. Today, he proudly stands as a full-time employee, driving innovation and excellence among some of the brightest minds in the AI research industry.

A passion for AI.

During his internship, Can worked on pivotal projects that laid the groundwork for his current role. In his first year, he focused on understanding the core objectives of the AI Research team, aligning his studies and techniques to contribute meaningful research and data. Today as a full-time employee, Can is deeply involved in the engineering side of projects and research, ensuring that his work is not only effective but also seamlessly integrated into Salesforce products.

A notable example of this is the company’s multimodal research, which has practical applications in field service and agent support. Can's efforts were instrumental in gathering commercial data to train a model that can be directly deployed in real-world scenarios, helping customers maximize impact and efficiency.

Pioneering multimodal content generation and understanding.

Can’s motivations to return to Salesforce were in part because of his immense pride in being part of an organization renowned for a high acceptance rate of research papers. This includes prestigious conferences like NeurIPS, CVPR, and EMNLP, where Salesforce's contributions continue to make a significant impact.

Throughout his career journey with Salesforce, Can has been involved in numerous projects. He is most proud of his work on xGen-MM, the latest multimodal model from Salesforce AI Research. This project involved generating and understanding content that integrates multiple types of data, such as text, images, and audio. He dedicated significant time to these initiatives, contributing to their success. In fact, xGen-MM has been downloaded over 10,000 times, a clear sign of impact within the AI community.

Can has also focused on the multimodal xGen-MM-Vid, which was released in a 2024 paper by Director of Applied Research, Ran Xu, on the basis of Salesforce's first in-house multimodal model. This project had so much significance that it was showcased at Dreamforce 2024. When asked about having his project featured at Dreamforce, Can said, “it was a very exciting and unique experience for me to see my work showcased on such a large scope, and seeing our customers' interest has truly been inspirational for me.”

Creating a space for shared ideas and mutual growth.

Now as Research Scientist, Can represents some of the groundbreaking AI work being done at Salesforce, pushing the boundaries of AI research and making a significant impact both within the company and the broader AI community. His core values — trust and transparency — which align to the company's, resonate deeply within his career and passion. By fostering a trusting environment with his colleagues, he's created a space where ideas can be freely shared and mutual growth is encouraged. These values define and motivate him in his day-to-day work.

For those aspiring to join the tech industry or Salesforce itself, Can's story is an inspiring example of what can be achieved with dedication and the right opportunities. His journey also highlights the company's commitment to recognizing innovation and breakthroughs and the importance of nurturing early talent. It showcases how dedication and exceptional performance can lead to rapid career advancement, making Salesforce an attractive place for ambitious professionals looking to make a significant impact.

For more information on our AI Research internships, check out our website here.