Slack tests AI-powered Slackbot to boost workplace productivity

Slack is experimenting with a major upgrade to Slackbot, turning the longtime reminder tool into a full-fledged AI assistant built for work. The redesigned bot can understand natural language prompts to draft project plans, highlight priorities, analyze reports and help find information even when users only remember fragments.

The new Slackbot integrates with popular platforms like Google Drive, Salesforce and OneDrive, allowing it to surface context and analyze documents across services. Slack says the assistant will evolve to “take action on your behalf” and enable no-code agent creation in the future.

• Key capabilities: generate project plans, summarize threads/reports, flag daily priorities, and search for information from partial details.
• Integrations: Google Drive, Salesforce, OneDrive (and other workplace tools over time).
• Availability: Beta open to ~70,000 users now; broader rollout expected by the end of the year. Admins can disable it for their orgs, but individual users won’t be able to opt out.

Slack’s parent company, Salesforce, has been actively adding AI features across the platform — from Canvas writing assistance to AI-generated channel recaps. One notable privacy point: Slack has reportedly been using user chats to train its AI models by default, with companies required to request an opt-out.

For more details, see the original coverage on Engadget: Engadget report.

As Slack moves to embed AI more deeply, the practical benefits (time saved, better organization) will be weighed against privacy and control concerns. How these assistants perform in real-world workflows and how transparent companies are about data use will shape adoption.

Discussion: Would you welcome an always-on AI Slackbot in your workspace, or are you more concerned about privacy and control?