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| Slack emphasizes that the Slack AI assistant runs on AWS’ virtual private cloud. |
For years, Slackbot has been a humble helper—a digital sidekick for setting reminders, automating messages, and answering simple queries. That era is officially over. Slack is now piloting a revolutionary update that transforms its long-standing bot into a full, proactive AI assistant, fundamentally expanding its role within the workspace.
The upgrade, a complete rebuild of the Slackbot system, turns the familiar helper into what Slack calls a “personalized AI companion.” It’s designed to move far beyond notifications and into the realm of deep work, pulling insights from across your organization to answer complex questions and streamline your day.
From Rudimentary Bot to Intelligent Companion
In a recent interview at Salesforce Dreamforce 2025, Rob Seaman, chief product officer of Slack at Salesforce, laid out the vision. “Slackbot today is fairly rudimentary,” Seaman stated. "We've actually completely rebuilt it as a personalized AI companion."
This isn't just an incremental tweak; it’s a foundational shift. The new Slack AI assistant aims to be the central interface for finding information, managing tasks, and understanding priorities—all through natural conversation.
A New Interface for Personalized, Context-Aware Help
During the pilot, users will find the Slack AI assistant as a new icon near the workspace search bar. Clicking it opens a dedicated panel where you can ask questions in plain English, such as:
- “What are my top priorities for today?”
- “Find the latest updates on the Q3 product launch.”
- “Summarize the key decisions from the engineering sync.”
The assistant then scours your workspace’s conversations, files, and threads—context you’ve already shared within Slack—to provide a tailored answer. It doesn’t just search; it synthesizes.
For a deeper look at the vision behind this native AI integration, you can read Slack’s official announcement from Dreamforce: Slack Unveils Native AI at Dreamforce to Power Smarter, More Connected Work.
The Power of Natural Language Search
One of the most promising features is the supercharged natural language search. Forget crafting perfect keyword strings. You can now ask complex, nuanced questions like:
- “Find me the document Jay shared in our last team meeting.”
- “Show me the latest approved version of the product roadmap.”
- “Pull all the updates posted in the #design channel last week.”
The assistant will also connect to essential tools like Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar to help schedule meetings and coordinate team availability directly from a chat.
Building on a Foundation of AI Tools
This new assistant builds upon Slack’s existing AI features, like channel recaps and thread summaries, which automatically condense conversations. It also includes the "jargon decoder," which explains unfamiliar acronyms and terms on the fly.
According to Seaman, the philosophy is to weave in subtle AI improvements that “save users a click.” Importantly, Slack confirms that classic, beloved Slackbot functions—custom slash commands, automated welcome messages, and simple reminders—will all remain intact.
For details on how these new capabilities fit into Slack’s overall offerings, you can check their help article on: Updates to feature availability and pricing for Slack subscriptions.
Addressing the Critical Enterprise Questions: Security and Control
In an era of heightened data sensitivity, Slack is emphasizing a secure architecture. The company states that the Slack AI assistant runs on AWS’s virtual private cloud. “No data leaves the firewall,” Seaman emphasized, adding that none of the data processed by the assistant is used to train external AI models.
This architecture is designed to directly address enterprise concerns about generative AI. Administrative controls are central to the rollout: while companies can opt their entire workspace out of the AI Slackbot, individual users within a participating workspace will not be able to disable it on their own.
Industry analysts are already weighing in on the strategic move. As noted in a recent analysis by SiliconANGLE, this update is part of a broader push where Slack’s AI platform redefines work agents with deep context, positioning it as a central nervous system for the enterprise.
Rollout Timeline: Internal Success to Customer Pilot
The enhanced Slackbot has already been stress-tested internally by over 70,000 Salesforce employees. Slack is now expanding the pilot to a select group of customers, with a planned broader rollout expected by the end of the year.
To see the new Slack AI assistant in action, you can watch the official demonstration from Dreamforce 2025 here: Slack AI Assistant Demo at Dreamforce.
The message is clear: Slack is betting that the future of work isn’t just about messaging, but about having an intelligent partner that knows your work as well as you do. The humble Slackbot has just graduated.