How Slack's new AI makeover helps your work
What's the story
Salesforce has unveiled an updated version of its popular enterprise communication tool, Slack. The revamped platform comes with a host of new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, including a major upgrade for its AI agent, the Slackbot. The announcement was made at an event in San Francisco by CEO Marc Benioff and his team.
Enhanced features
New 'reusable AI-skills' feature
The latest update introduces 30 new features, building on the capabilities added in January. These include tasks like drafting emails, scheduling meetings, and searching through inboxes for specific information. One of the most notable additions is "reusable AI-skills," which lets users assign specific tasks to Slackbot that can be used in different contexts. This feature comes with a library of pre-defined skills but also allows for custom versions.
Advanced integration
Slackbot can now connect to external services and tools
The updated Slackbot works as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) client, enabling it to connect with external services and tools. This includes Agentforce, Salesforce's AI agent development platform that was launched in 2024. Through this connection, the bot can "route work or prompt questions to Agentforce or any agent or app in your enterprise," finding the most relevant and efficient path for information without human intervention.
New capabilities
Bot can transcribe meetings, summarize discussions
The updated Slackbot can now transcribe meetings and summarize them. If a participant misses important details, they can ask Slackbot for a recap of the meeting, including any action items assigned to them. The bot can also operate outside of Slack and monitor desktop activities such as deals, conversations, calendars, and habits. Based on this data, it makes actionable suggestions or drafts follow-ups for critical tasks while ensuring privacy protections are in place.