Slack is updating Slackbot, turning it into an AI assistant that will help with creating work plans, reviewing messages in channels, gathering information, and other tasks, The Verge reports.
"Slackbot today is fairly rudimentary," Rob Seaman, Slack’s senior vice president of enterprise products, tells The Verge. "But what we’ve done is we’ve actually rebuilt it from the ground up as a personalized AI companion."
Users can start a conversation with Slackbot by clicking the icon next to the search field. This will open a private chat with the assistant, where they can ask questions and give tasks. For example, Slackbot can summarize messages in a channel or help prioritize tasks for the day.
In a demo Slack showed The Verge, Slackbot performed more complex tasks. For example, it was able to organize a product launch plan in Canvas, gathering information from various channels. The updated bot also helps create social media campaigns that adhere to the overall tone of the brand.
Like many other AI bots, Slackbot will allow you to search your workspace using natural language. This will help you find documents even without an exact keyword. For meeting-related queries, Slack will integrate with Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar.