SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce is doubling down on its AI transformation, and Slack is at the center of it. At a small gathering in San Francisco on Tuesday, CEO Marc Benioff and his team unveiled a sweeping update to Slack that introduces 30 new AI-powered features. The biggest headline is a major upgrade to Slackbot, which is being repositioned as a full-fledged AI agent capable of handling complex business tasks.
The update builds on a January release that first gave Slackbot agentic capabilities, including drafting emails, scheduling meetings, and searching through inboxes. Now, Salesforce is pushing Slackbot far beyond those basics.
Reusable AI Skills: The Standout Feature
The most significant addition is what Salesforce calls reusable AI skills. These allow users to define specific tasks for Slackbot that, once created, can be applied across a variety of different scenarios and contexts. Slackbot ships with a built-in library of these skills, but users can also build their own custom versions.
The practical impact is considerable. A user can trigger a skill with a simple command in Slack — for example, asking Slackbot to create a budget for an upcoming event. The bot will then pull together relevant information from across the company's Slack channels, connected apps, and data sources to build an actionable plan. It will even set up a meeting to discuss the plan and automatically invite the right people based on their job titles.
MCP Integration and Agentforce Connection
Slackbot now also functions as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) client, meaning it can connect to and coordinate with external services and tools. One of the most important connections is to Agentforce, Salesforce's AI agent development platform that launched in 2024. Through this integration, Slackbot can route work and questions to Agentforce or any other agent or app within an enterprise, finding the most efficient path for the information without requiring human intervention.
This positions Slackbot not just as a chatbot but as an orchestration layer — a central hub that can delegate tasks across an organization's entire software ecosystem.
Meeting Transcription and Desktop Monitoring
Among the other notable features, Slackbot can now transcribe and summarize meetings in real time. If a participant misses critical details during a call, they can ask the bot to produce a recap along with any action items assigned to them.
Perhaps more ambitiously, the agent can now operate outside of Slack and monitor desktop activities. Salesforce says the bot draws on data from deals, conversations, calendars, and user habits to make actionable suggestions or draft follow-ups for critical tasks. Rob Seaman, Slack's interim CEO and former chief product officer, has said that privacy protections are built into the design and users can adjust permissions as needed.
Slack's Evolution From Chat Tool to AI Platform
The broader strategy is clear: Salesforce wants to transform Slack from an enterprise messaging app into a versatile AI-powered platform that sits at the core of business operations. By flooding Slack with intelligent automation, the company is betting it can make the tool indispensable to enterprise workflows in a way that goes well beyond simple communication.
Benioff let his team walk through the major features on Tuesday but took a moment during his keynote to reflect on the journey since Salesforce acquired Slack five years ago. He noted the acquisition had delivered two and a half times revenue growth, with about a million businesses now running on the platform.
What It Means for the Enterprise AI Race
The update puts Slack in direct competition with Microsoft Teams and its Copilot integration, as well as a growing wave of AI-native workplace tools. By embedding agentic AI deep into a platform already used by millions of workers, Salesforce is making a strong bid to stay relevant in an enterprise landscape that is rapidly being reshaped by artificial intelligence.
For businesses already invested in the Salesforce ecosystem, the upgraded Slackbot could become a powerful force multiplier — handling routine tasks, connecting systems, and freeing employees to focus on higher-value work.
