Slack’s new ChatGPT bot will talk to your colleagues for you

Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeChatGPT is coming to Slack. The Salesforce-owned Slack announced the new AI-powered app on Tuesday that will help you craft replies to your colleagues “in seconds.” Those with access to the app can click...

JaneWalter JaneWalter
Mar 7, 2023 - 21:02
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Slack’s new ChatGPT bot will talk to your colleagues for you

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Like Microsoft and Google, Slack owner Salesforce is shoving an AI chatbot into its workplace software to automatically write simple messages and summarize meetings.

Mar 7, 2023, 2:01 PM UTC|

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

ChatGPT is coming to Slack. The Salesforce-owned Slack announced the new AI-powered app on Tuesday that will help you craft replies to your colleagues “in seconds.”

Those with access to the app can click the three-dots icon in a thread and hit “Draft reply” instead of typing out the response themselves. It’s still not clear how detailed these responses will get — or if they might get a bit wonky at times. Obviously, you can probably edit any responses to better suit the conversation, but I honestly feel that I can type up a reply in the time it takes to command ChatGPT to write one for me.

Animated GIF showing a demo of the ChatGPT app for Slack, providing AI-written summaries and information suggestions about meetings and people in your workplace.

ChatGPT for the Slack app in action.

Image: Slack

Additionally, the ChatGPT Slack bot can help you find answers “on any project or topic” using its AI-powered research tools as well as summarize channels or threads so you can stay updated on what’s been happening at work. Companies and organizations can join the waitlist for the ChatGPT beta here.

The news comes as part of Salesforce’s broader announcement of Einstein GPT, the company’s own take on OpenAI’s ChatGPT model for CRM (customer relationship management) software systems. According to Salesforce, Einstein GPT infuses both Salesforce’s and OpenAI’s AI technology, allowing it to generate emails salespeople can send to customers, craft responses to customer questions, and create “targeted content” for marketers.

Salesforce’s foray into AI-powered tools isn’t all that surprising. Several other companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Meta, are also looking at ways to incorporate AI into their products — and the competition is clearly heating up. Just one day before this announcement, Microsoft introduced an AI CoPilot for Microsoft 365, which, similarly, can write customizable emails or messages to customers as well as create marketing content. Google also integrated AI tools into its productivity apps, including Meet and Spaces.