Slack becomes an AI workplace: Here’s what that means for your work

The messaging app where millions of office workers share memes and coordinate projects is quietly turning into something much more ambitious: a platform where AI agents work alongside humans as digital colleagues.

As part of Salesforce large-scale AI initiative announced on Tuesday, Slim is evolving from a communications tool to what company officials call a “work operating system” – a system in which AI agents can attend your meetings, summarize your conversations, create presentations, and even negotiate with other AI agents on your behalf.

“We’ve been on a journey to become what we call a work operating system — an operating system that simplifies the complexity of all the systems you use every day,” Slack CPO Rob Seaman, who oversees the company’s AI integration, said in a interview with VentureBeat. “While messaging and human interaction remain central, the system now offers access to automation and all the apps you need to do your job, plus AI agents, which we believe will be critical players in the workplace.”

The new digital workplace: AI Agents as your always active colleagues

The transformation is already visible at companies like Accenturewith client managers using AI agents within Slack to dramatically reduce time spent on administrative tasks. These agents can prepare for meetings, summarize discussions, and even draft proposals – all within the familiar Slack interface where employees already spend their workday.

“To ensure these AI agents are widely adopted and continuously improved, it is critical to integrate them where people already work,” Seaman explains.

A look inside Slack’s groundbreaking AI integration: what you need to know

Unlike traditional chatbots or AI assistants that require users to visit separate websites or apps, Slack’s AI agents will integrate directly into existing workflows. They appear in channels alongside human colleagues and can be summoned through natural conversations.

The system is designed to be accessible to non-technical users. “There’s really no code involved,” Seaman said. “From the end user’s perspective, there’s really no technical work for you.”

But the implications for workplace dynamics are profound. In demonstrations, AI agents showed that they could independently schedule meetings, analyze documents, create visualizations, and even collaborate with other AI agents on complex tasks.

For example, during Tuesday’s presentation, an AI agent helped an Accenture executive returning from vacation quickly get up to speed on client activity, prepare for upcoming meetings, and craft a proposal — tasks that would normally take hours of human effort. require.

Building Trust and Control: How Slack’s AI Safeguards Protect Your Data

While Salesforce will provide template agents for general business tasks, Seaman expects that most organizations will tailor their AI workers to specific needs.

“We will provide ready-made templates that will meet approximately 80% of most needs, but we expect organizations will customize their AI agents for specific purposes,” he said. “We’ve already seen this pattern with Slack: companies tend to significantly tailor the platform to their needs.”

The company has built extensive security measures into the system. “The agents are conducting the operation on your behalf, with no more authority than you have,” Seaman explained. “They don’t have permission from God or admin rights… we don’t create holes that allow the AI ​​to see things it shouldn’t be able to see.”

The Human-AI Partnership: Redefining Workplace Collaboration

For many employees, the prospect of AI colleagues raises concerns about job losses. But Salesforce executives see it as an extension of human capabilities rather than a replacement.

“It’s not about transferring the data,” says Claire Cheng, VP of machine learning and engineering at Salesforce. “It’s about unlocking the full potential of the data Agent power to deeply understand your business and your customer and empower agents to take more effective actions.”

Looking ahead, Salesforce envisions even more advanced collaboration between humans and AI workers. Future versions will allow multiple AI agents to work together on complex tasks, with specialized agents handling different aspects of projects.

“Right now there’s a human calling different agents,” Silvio Savarese, who leads Salesforce’s AI research, told VentureBeat. “The future will have an orchestrator who will summon several specialized agents who will talk, collaborate and perform tasks.”

This vision of the workplace – where humans and AI agents collaborate seamlessly through platforms like Slack – represents a fundamental change in the way office work is done. And while the full implications remain to be seen, one thing is clear: the office chat app that lets you share cat GIFs is about to get a lot more powerful.

“We are at the beginning of the beginning,” said Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. “When you’re at the beginning of the beginning, you see these little things, and then you try to extrapolate what this is going to be. This is an incredible moment.”