Salesforce pushes Slack beyond chat with new AI agent tools

On Tuesday, Salesforce unveiled 30 new AI features for Slack as part of its broader effort to remake its business around artificial intelligence. The update focuses heavily on upgrading Slackbot, the platform’s built-in AI agent, to handle complex tasks and coordinate across different applications. According to Rob Seaman, EVP and GM of Slack, Slackbot can now transcribe and summarize meetings, allowing users to quickly generate recaps and identify assigned action items.

The update introduces reusable AI-skills, which allow users to define specific tasks for Slackbot that can be applied across different contexts. For example, a user can issue a command to build a budget for an upcoming event, prompting the bot to pull relevant information from Slack channels and connected apps to create an actionable plan.

Additionally, Slackbot now functions as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) client—a protocol that allows connection to outside services. This integration enables Slackbot to connect with Agentforce, Salesforce’s AI agent development platform launched in 2024.

Key capabilities of the upgraded Slackbot include:

• Connecting to external tools to route work or prompt questions to Agentforce or any agent or app in an enterprise, without requiring human intervention.
• Operating outside of Slack to monitor desktop activities, including calendars, conversations, and deals, to suggest actions or draft follow-ups.
• Drafting emails, scheduling meetings, and sifting through inboxes, building on agentic capabilities introduced in a January update.

Seaman noted that privacy protections are built into the design of these desktop-monitoring features, allowing users to adjust permissions as needed.

This launch comes five years after Salesforce acquired Slack. During a keynote on Tuesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff described the period since the acquisition as a journey that has delivered 2.5 times revenue growth. Discussing the platform’s scale, Benioff stated, “We have about a million businesses running on Slack. It’s been a huge growth story.” The hope seems to be that, by flooding the platform with AI, Salesforce can make Slack an indispensable part of enterprise users’ core business processes.

Why it matters

Salesforce is attempting to transition Slack from a simple communication tool into a more versatile platform capable of handling complex business tasks by integrating AI features.