Slack is turning Slackbot into an AI assistant

Slack is investigating an update for Slackbot that transforms it into an AI assistant. Presently, it operates arsenic a instrumentality for delivering reminders and notifications. With the update, Slackbot tin make customized plans tailored to your workspace, sift done a upland of messages, stitchery accusation from a scope of Slack channels, and more.

“Slackbot contiguous is reasonably rudimentary,” Rob Seaman, Slack’s elder vice president of endeavor product, tells The Verge. “But what we’ve done is we’ve really rebuilt it from the crushed up arsenic a personalized AI companion.”

As portion of the pilot, Slackbot volition look arsenic an icon adjacent to the hunt barroom astatine the apical of the workspace. Clicking into it volition unfastened a DM-like sheet connected the close broadside of the surface wherever you tin participate prompts similar “What are my priorities for today?” oregon “Find the latest updates connected a project.” The caller Slackbot volition gully from your conversations, files, and workspace to supply personalized assistance.

In a demo seen by The Verge, Slack showed however the AI-upgraded Slackbot tin execute much analyzable tasks, specified arsenic organizing a product’s motorboat program wrong a Canvas by gathering accusation crossed antithetic Slack channels, arsenic good arsenic assistance make a societal media run utilizing a brand’s tone.

But what seems adjacent much adjuvant is the caller Slackbot’s quality to hunt done a workspace utilizing earthy language. That means if you’re looking for a papers but can’t nail down the circumstantial keyword it was attached to, you tin inquire Slackbot thing similar “Find maine the papers that Jay shared successful our past meeting.” It tin besides pat into Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar to coordinate and docket meetings with colleagues. 

This adds to the different AI-powered features Slack has integrated into the platform, which tin already summarize threads and channels arsenic good arsenic decode institution jargon. “We’ll support putting those small touches determination wherever they marque sense, to prevention users a click,” Seaman said erstwhile asked astir the aboriginal of these features. Slackbot’s existing features — similar its automated messages oregon customized functions successful effect to commands — will stay disposable arsenic well.

Companies tin take to opt retired of utilizing an AI Slackbot, but individuals successful the workspace can’t. Slack’s AI features run done Amazon Web Services’ virtual backstage cloud, “meaning that nary information leaves the firewall, nary information is utilized successful the grooming of the models astatine all,” according to Seaman.

The upgraded Slackbot is already disposable for 70,000 employees astatine Salesforce (Slack’s genitor company), and present the institution is investigating it with different customers arsenic well. It plans to present the caller diagnostic to everyone astatine the extremity of the year.