Slack is becoming an AI workplace – here’s what that means for your work

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

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

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

The new digital workplace: AI agents as always-on colleagues

The transformation is already visible in companies such as accentwhere client executives use AI agents within Slack to dramatically reduce time spent on administrative tasks. These agents can prepare for meetings, summarize discussions, and even write proposals, all within the familiar Slack interface where employees already spend their workday.

“To ensure that these AI agents are widely adopted and continually improved, it is critical to integrate them where people are already working,” Seaman explained.

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 called through natural conversation.

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

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

For example, during Tuesday’s presentation, an AI agent helped an Accenture executive returning from vacation quickly catch up on client activities, prepare for upcoming meetings and write a proposal, tasks that would normally require hours of effort. human.

Build trust and control: How Slack’s AI safeguards protect your data

While Salesforce will provide model agents for common business tasks, Seaman expects most organizations to customize their AI workers for specific needs.

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

The company has incorporated extensive security measures into the system. “Agents execute on your behalf without any permissions other than those you have,” Seaman explained. “They don’t have God permissions or administrator permissions… we don’t create any holes for 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 having AI colleagues raises concerns about job displacement. But Salesforce executives frame it as augmenting human capabilities rather than replacing them.

“It’s not about handing over the data,” said Claire Cheng, vice president of engineering and machine learning at Salesforce. “It’s about unlocking the full potential of data to enable agent force to deeply understand your business and your customer and empower agents to take more effective actions.”

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

“Right now there is a human being that conjures up different agents,” Silvio Savarese, who leads AI research at Salesforce, told VentureBeat. “The future will have an orchestrator agent that will call different specialized agents that will talk, work together and perform tasks.”

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

“We’re 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 it’s going to be. “This is an incredible moment.”