Slack CEO discusses the impact of AI on workplace messaging platform

San Francisco: Lidiane Jones, the CEO of Slack, one of the most widely used workplace messaging platforms, has highlighted how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the platform.

Jones took on the role as CEO in January 2023, following the departure of Stewart Butterfield, one of the co-founders of Slack. She noted that since her appointment, Slack has launched more features in the last nine months than it did in several years prior.

Slack, along with its competitor Microsoft Teams, has incorporated AI into its platform to enhance user experience.

AI, particularly generative AI, has the potential to profoundly transform platforms like Slack, as it can generate text, images, and sounds in response to everyday language requests. These AI capabilities have allowed Slack to act as an online assistant, summarising content and automating administrative tasks.

Jones mentioned how she used Slack's AI to summarise messages received during her vacation, saving her time catching up. Users can also interact with generative AI chatbots directly within Slack from various providers. This openness to third-party apps and tools is a strength of Slack, differentiating it from competitors like Teams, reported AFP.

Despite Microsoft Teams having more users, Slack believes it can excel in AI thanks to the wealth of data it possesses. The platform contains extensive unstructured data from various departments within companies, providing valuable context for its AI capabilities.

While Slack currently has no plans to develop its own language model, Jones acknowledged the possibility of creating specialised models in the future. Furthermore, Slack envisions developing highly personalised AI agents and digital secretaries that understand users' specific needs and preferences. However, Jones noted that building trust in such AI systems will take time.