Slack, a popular messaging platform, is shifting its focus to become a “work operating system”. This means it will become a hub for artificial intelligence (AI) applications from companies like Salesforce, Adobe, and Anthropic. Slack CEO Denise Dresser sees the platform as more than just a place to chat with coworkers, but users may not agree.
Slack has introduced several new features for its premium tier, Slack AI. These features include AI-generated summaries of conversations and the ability to chat with AI agents from companies like Salesforce. Users can also search the web and generate images using these agents.
Salesforce purchased Slack in 2021, and since then, the company has been focusing on AI agents. Slack’s CEO believes that the platform is a natural place to interact with AI agents because people are already chatting there throughout the workday.
But why does Slack need AI? Some companies have been adding AI features to appear “cutting edge”, even if it doesn’t make sense for the core product. Slack is trying to bring companies into the AI era by offering features like quickly catching up on team discussions or surfacing information from databases.
Slack’s new agents will perform tasks like analyzing business data or creating branded content. But users have good reason to be skeptical, as AI becomes just another tool in the box.
