Highlights:

  • The AI-powered search feature would provide Slack users with tailored and insightful answers to any queries.
  • With the help of the channel recaps function, users may rapidly catch up on unread messages or review the key points discussed throughout the previous week in a concise overview of the channel.

Salesforce Inc. announced that it is expanding the capabilities of its Slack messaging and collaboration platform with generative artificial intelligence.

Slack AI, a paid add-on that facilitates users’ access to the collective knowledge contained in users’ chats and threads, was recently made available by the firm. According to Slack, its guided experience lets users access information faster than they could by using manual search due to AI-powered search, thread summaries, and channel recaps. Besides, more features are also planned.

The business claimed that because Slack AI is “guided,” using the new features is simple and doesn’t require any training. Instead, they can be accessed through contextualized, guided interactions.

The AI-powered search feature would provide Slack users with tailored and insightful answers to any queries. Slack AI allows users to ask inquiries in natural language and receive prompt, succinct responses based on pertinent messages from Slack’s threads and channels. Its goal is to make it easier for consumers to locate the information they require more quickly, be it definitions of strange acronyms, company policies, or new marketing campaigns.

By means of the channel recaps function, which provides a concise synopsis of the channel’s most significant discussions, users can rapidly review unread messages or recall what has been discussed in the past week. The company explained that an individual who has recently joined a new team or who has recently returned to work after a vacation may find this feature particularly useful.

In conclusion, Slack now features a thread summaries feature that, as its name implies, allows users to quickly review lengthy discussions. The sources for each highlight are explicitly stated in the summaries, enabling users to further explore that particular aspect of the discourse if necessary. Its purpose is to provide a concise overview of all decisions made, the subsequent actions to be executed, and more.

Salesforce claims that these new Slack features will transform the game. It references a study by Gartner Inc. that demonstrates how the abundance of tools and platforms available to individuals for collaboration and information sharing makes it difficult for nearly half of all digital workers to locate the data required to perform their tasks. People can now find the information they need considerably faster than they could do before due to AI.

Salesforce illustrated this point with an instance demonstrating the capabilities of Slack AI for sales representatives. For example, when a customer has a specific query or concern during a deal cycle, they can use Slack AI to identify and bring in the appropriate subject matter expert; alternatively, they can recapitulate what was said in a particular account channel in preparation for their next meeting with that customer. Additionally, generating crucial insights from a discussion can be beneficial.

Engineering teams will also benefit from Slack AI, enabling them to recap an earlier incident channels and utilize it as the basis for a root cause study or search through previous incident channels for solutions that can be applied to current issues.

According to Slack CEO Denise Dresser, the main goal of Slack AI is to enable users to work more quickly and intelligently so they can make better use of their time. “In the era of generative AI, Slack is the trusted, conversational platform that connects every part of a business to supercharge team productivity,” she added.

Slack is the ideal tool for utilizing generative AI technology, according to Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. This technology is highly proficient in reading and comprehending text. “Analyzing and summarizing messages within Slack is an obvious use case for this technology, and it will help users be able to process information from within their favorite collaboration tool more easily. It’s another example of how AI is changing the future of work and making people more efficient,” the analyst explained.

Regarding privacy, the firm reassured users by stating that one of its core values is trust and that it is dedicated to developing AI solutions in a safe, ethical, and responsible manner. Because of this, Slack AI adheres to the same security and compliance guidelines and operates on the business’s own computer infrastructure.

Its large language models are also hosted directly within Slack, guaranteeing that client data is never lost or transferred to another location. Additionally, it guaranteed that no consumer data would ever be utilized for AI training.

Slack AI will get more features in the future, such as a digests feature that compiles the best content from low-priority channels that users want to be updated on. Additionally, the business is developing a direct integration for Salesforce’s leading CRM software with Einstein Copilot, the conversational assistant that was just unveiled. Due to that integration, Slack AI will be able to respond to user inquiries based on reliable customer data.

Lastly, Slack said that several of its partners are integrating AI capabilities into their Slack apps, allowing users to ask PagerDuty Copilot for assistance in resolving incidents, search Box files for answers, and annotate papers using Notion.

According to the company, Slack AI is now only accessible as a paid add-on for Slack Enterprise plans in English, but support for other languages will be added soon.