With Slack GPT, natively integrated AI features are being developed for Slack that can increase productivity without disrupting the way users already interact with the platform. Some examples include sending the tone and length of messages drafted directly in Slack and even attending Huddles on your behalf, summarizing them with any unread messages you may have missed.
Introduced at the Salesforce World Tour event on Thursday, Slack GPT is a new generative AI experience with three key focuses: the aforementioned natively integrated AI features, customizable automated workflows, and a dedicated Einstein GPT app for Slack. It’ll be a while before any of these features are available to regular Slack users, but today’s announcements at least give a glimpse of what to expect in the coming months.
Slack GPT also provides users with enhanced tools for building custom workflows to automate tasks using simple prompts – no coding experience required. Teams can also choose to integrate LLM (Large Language Model) apps like Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT (currently in beta) into this process. Salesforce claims Anthropic and OpenAI won’t use any of the data from their Slack apps to train their language models, though companies also have the option to integrate their own proprietary software or LLMs into the Slack ecosystem if privacy is an issue.
Finally, Einstein GPT – a generative AI assistant created by Salesforce – is also being adapted into a dedicated Slack app. Because Einstein GPT can access live customer information from trusted Salesforce Customer 360 data and the Data Cloud, it can be integrated into Slack workflows to automatically notify teams of new leads or updates on ongoing sales projects. Salesforce dropped a cool $27.7 billion to acquire Slack in 2021, so it’s no wonder the company is developing ways to make the two platforms more cohesive.
“Generative AI has tremendous potential to redefine the way work gets done and unlock significant business productivity,” said Lidiane Jones, CEO of Slack. “The real power of this technology is when AI can analyze and act on the most valuable data from a company’s most trusted source: its own internal knowledge.”
There are currently no firm release dates for these Slack GPT features. The new Workflow Builder is expected to be released sometime “this summer,” and both the Einstein GPT app for Slack and Slack GPT’s native AI features are still in development.