January 25, 2023
Slack Furthers AI Investment, Launches Automatic Summary, Search Tools
- by Colin Kirkland , February 14, 2024
Aligning with investments made by most other tech platforms, Slack is building out its artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem.
The workplace communications platform has announced the launch of its new generative AI (GAI) features, including a conversational search tool and an information summarizer within channels, which are intended to save time during the workday.
According to Noah Weiss, Slack’s chief product officer, the company is attempting to use GAI to better process corporate information gathered haphazardly on the app and then resurface it in an efficient, understandable way.
“This new wave of generative AI capabilities allows us to extract a whole new set of meaning and intelligence out of all that analysis that has been created for years [on our platform],” Weiss told TechCrunch.
Slack’s new AI tool will auto-create channel recaps so that users can quickly acclimate themselves to what their colleagues have been discussing about a certain topic. This tool is intended especially for those who miss an update when they are away from their computer or smartphone.
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The company says the algorithm generating channel recaps is able to separate content into specific categories and topics, separating various discussions in the same channel as well as useful information from potential conversational filler.
When requesting a channel summary from Slack's AI, users will receive a summary of all the topics discussed by their coworkers accompanied by references that help to guide users through the process of how it devised the summary in order to promote “transparency” around the company’s use of generative AI.
Slack is also launching conversational search, a feature that allows users to bypass Slack’s pre-existing search bar and ask a question using their natural speaking language instead. The algorithm is designed to explore and process previous chats in order to deliver a “clear, concise answer based on relevant conversational data,” the company said.Each answer given by Slack’s AI includes a quality check, inviting users to report whether the answer was good, bad or neutral in order to continually train the AI model.
Slack has not provided specific cost details, but users in the U.S. and U.K. are able to access the AI features for an additional cost. More languages beyond English are coming soon, the company said.
