Slack Introduces AI Agents from Asana, Cohere, Adobe, Workday, and More for Enhanced Collaboration

Slack Enhances AI Integration for Workplace Efficiency

Slack is streamlining the integration of AI agents to enhance productivity for its users. These AI agents, available to paying customers, will incorporate Salesforce’s AI solutions, third-party tools from partners, and custom agents developed by Slack users.

AI Agents Boosting Workflow Efficiency

Rob Seaman, Slack’s Chief Product Officer, highlighted the need for greater workflow consolidation among desk workers. "Our research indicates that employees spend nearly a third of their day on low-value tasks, with half unable to locate essential information," he explained. This challenge stems from the growing number of applications workers use daily.

To address this, Slack does not offer its own agents but provides a platform for integrating existing AI tools. For instance, Salesforce’s new AI suite, Agentforce, allows users to interact with their CRM data directly within Slack — users can type questions or commands, receiving answers based on real-time CRM data and ongoing conversations.

Additionally, Slack will support AI agents from various partners, including Asana, Cohere, Adobe Express, Workday, and Writer. These agents will operate based on the programming set by their respective developers, and users can also integrate their own AI agents into Slack.

Navigating Adoption Challenges

The introduction of AI agents allows users to access tools like Agentforce through a dedicated interface on Slack, enabling them to inquire about CRM data and receive recommendations for next steps or automated email drafts.

However, Slack emphasizes that these AI agents will have limited access to user data. "We developed a new API specifically for agents, ensuring that data cannot be exported, stored, or utilized for large language model training,” Seaman clarified. Custom agents created by users can still train on their proprietary data, making these AI tools powerful extensions of existing applications like Google Calendar and Zoom.

As one of the major players in workplace productivity, Slack is among companies expanding access to AI agents, a growing trend in enterprise solutions. Competitors like ServiceNow are also announcing new AI capabilities.

Despite the growth, many AI agents are still in their infancy, leaving employees with little hands-on experience. The development of autonomous agents, which require minimal prompting, is ongoing.

Slack must demonstrate the value of these AI tools, especially since AI adoption remains uneven in workplaces. Many employees express concerns about the fairness of AI integration.

Expanding AI Features in Slack

Beyond AI agents, Slack is also introducing features such as note-taking and transcription for Huddles, its audio meeting option. These summaries, which capture action items and shared notes, will appear in a dedicated tab within channels.

Furthermore, the AI Workflow Builder will automate tasks by generating workflows from user prompts, and the AI search feature will retrieve answers from uploaded files, transcripts, or documents from connected apps like Zoom.

By enhancing these features, Slack aims to support users in achieving greater efficiency and productivity in their daily tasks.