Slack is becoming an AI workplace: Here’s what that means for your job

this messaging app The place where millions of office workers share memes and coordinate projects is quietly transforming into something more ambitious: artificial intelligence agents serving as platforms for digital colleagues to work alongside humans.

As part of Salesforce Comprehensive Artificial Intelligence Initiative announced on Tuesday, relaxation is evolving from a communications tool to what company officials call a “work operating system” — one where an AI agent can attend your meetings, summarize your conversations, create presentations, and even negotiate with other AI agents on your behalf .

Rob Seaman, chief product officer of Slack, who is responsible for the company’s artificial intelligence integration, said in an interview with VentureBeat: “We have been working hard to become what we call a work operating system, which can simplify the complexity of all the systems you use every day.” “While messaging and human-machine interaction remain at its core, the system now provides access to all the applications needed to automate and get work done, as well as artificial intelligence agents, which we believe will become key players in the workplace. “

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

This shift is already showing up in companies like Accentureaccount executives are using AI agents in Slack to significantly reduce the 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 workdays.

“To ensure that these AI agents are widely adopted and continue to improve, it is critical to integrate them into the places where people already work,” Seaman explained.

Inside Slack’s game-changing AI integration: What you need to know

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

The system is designed to be accessible to non-technical users. “There’s really no code involved,” Seaman said. “From an end-user perspective, you really don’t have to do any technical work.”

But the impact on workplace dynamics is profound. In demonstrations, AI agents showed that they can independently schedule meetings, analyze documents, create visualizations, and even collaborate with other AI agents to complete complex tasks.

In a demonstration on Tuesday, for example, an AI agent helped Accenture executives returning from vacation quickly understand client activity, prepare for upcoming meetings and draft proposals — tasks that typically take hours of human effort.

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

While Salesforce will provide template agents for common business tasks, Seaman anticipates that most organizations will customize their AI workforce based on specific needs.

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

The company has extensive security measures built into the system. “The agent performs tasks on your behalf, but does not have any greater authority than you have,” Seaman explains. “They don’t have God’s authority or administrator’s authority… We’re not going to create any loopholes for artificial intelligence to see things it’s not supposed to see.”

A partnership between humans and artificial intelligence: Redefining workplace collaboration

For many employees, the prospect of artificially intelligent colleagues raises concerns about job losses. But Salesforce executives see it as an enhancement of human capabilities, not a replacement.

“This is not handing over data,” said Claire Cheng, vice president of machine learning and engineering at Salesforce. “This is about unlocking the full potential of data to enable secret service Gain insights into your business and customers and help agents take more effective actions.

Going forward, Salesforce expects collaboration between human and AI workers to become more complex. Future versions will enable multiple AI agents to work together on complex tasks, with dedicated agents handling different aspects of a project.

“Right now, humans are calling on different agents,” Silvio Savarese, head of artificial intelligence research at Salesforce, told VentureBeat. “In the future there will be a coordinating agent that will call on different specialized agents, These agents 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 how work is done in the office. While the full impact remains to be seen, one thing is clear: Office chat apps for sharing cat GIFs are about to get even more powerful.

“We’re in the beginning stages,” said Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “When you first start, you see these little things and you try to extrapolate what this could be. It’s an incredible moment.