Slack is making significant upgrades to its core tool Slackbot, planning to transform it from a simple reminder and notification tool into a powerful personalized AI assistant.

Rob Seaman, Slack's Chief Product Officer under Salesforce, told The Verge: "Slackbot is still in its early stages. But what we're doing is rebuilding it from scratch to make it a personalized artificial intelligence companion."

The new AI Slackbot will be able to perform multiple complex tasks to improve user productivity:

  • Custom Planning: Create customized daily or project plans based on the user's workspace information.

  • Information Filtering and Summarization: Filter massive messages and collect and organize information from multiple Slack channels.

  • Complex Task Organization: As shown in the demonstration, it can collect information across channels, organize product launch plans within Canvas, and even help create social media campaigns in the brand's tone.

  • Natural Language Search: Users can search their workspace using natural language (e.g., "Find the document Jay shared in the last meeting") and find files even if they are unsure of the exact keywords.

  • Cross-Platform Coordination: It can use Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar to coordinate and schedule meetings with colleagues.

User Interface and Integration

The upgraded Slackbot will appear as a icon next to the search bar at the top of the workspace. Clicking this icon will open a panel similar to a DM on the right side of the screen, where users can enter prompts such as "What are my priorities for today?" or "Find the latest updates on the project."

This new feature further enhances existing AI features in the Slack platform (such as summarizing discussions and channels, interpreting company jargon). Seaman said the company will "continue to add these small features where appropriate to save users' clicks." Existing Slackbot features will also remain.

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Data Security and Rollout Plan

In terms of data privacy, Slack emphasized that its AI features run on a virtual private cloud of Amazon Web Services, which means "No data leaves the firewall, and no data is used for model training."

Companies can choose not to use the AI Slackbot, but individual users in the workplace cannot turn off this feature.

The upgraded Slackbot has been tested among 70,000 Salesforce employees and is currently being piloted with other customers. Slack plans to roll out this new feature to all users by the end of the year