Overview of the AI‑Powered Slackbot

Slack is piloting an update that rebuilds Slackbot from the ground up as a personalized AI assistant. While the original Slackbot handled basic reminders and notifications, the new version can generate custom plans, sift through extensive message histories, and gather information from multiple Slack channels.

Key Functionalities

The AI‑enhanced Slackbot appears as an icon next to the search bar. Clicking it opens a direct‑message‑style panel where users can enter prompts such as “What are my priorities for today?” or “Find the latest updates on a project.” The assistant draws on conversations, files, and overall workspace context to deliver tailored assistance.

Demonstrations show the bot organizing a product launch within Canvas by pulling data from various channels, and crafting social‑media copy that matches a brand’s tone. Its natural‑language search lets users ask for documents without knowing exact keywords, for example, “Find me the document that Jay shared in our last meeting.”

Integration with Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar enables the bot to schedule meetings and coordinate calendars, further streamlining workflow.

Deployment and Privacy

Slack’s AI features operate on Amazon Web Services’ virtual private cloud, meaning no data leaves the company’s firewall and none is used to train the underlying models. The upgraded Slackbot is already in use by 70,000 employees at Salesforce, Slack’s parent company, and is being tested with additional customers.

Organizations have the option to opt out of the AI Slackbot, though individual users within a workspace cannot disable it. Slack plans to make the feature generally available to all users by the end of the year.

Future Outlook

Slack’s senior vice president of enterprise product, Rob Seaman, says the company will continue adding small AI‑driven touches that reduce clicks and enhance productivity. Existing Slackbot capabilities, such as automated messages and custom command functions, will remain intact alongside the new AI features.

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