Slackbot Just Became an AI Agent. Can It Beat ChatGPT?

Salesforce rebuilt Slackbot from scratch. Now it’s an AI agent that handles your busywork across multiple apps.

The company launched the new version Tuesday for Business+ and Enterprise+ customers. But this isn’t your old Slackbot that just answered basic questions. This version drafts emails, schedules meetings, and hunts down information buried in Microsoft Teams or Google Drive.

Parker Harris, Salesforce’s CTO, wants Slackbot to catch fire like ChatGPT did. That’s a bold goal. But early signs look promising based on internal adoption rates.

What Makes This Slackbot Different

Forget the old automated assistant. Salesforce kept the name but scrapped everything else.

The new Slackbot works as a true AI agent. It connects to your enterprise apps and performs tasks without constant hand-holding. Plus, it stays inside Slack so you don’t jump between ten different tabs.

Harris told TechCrunch the change goes deeper than typical Slack updates. Most Slack releases just tweak existing features. This one adds entirely new capabilities powered by generative AI.

The agent can pull information from connected apps if you grant permission. So it might grab a file from Google Drive or find a conversation in Teams. Then it summarizes everything without you leaving Slack.

That’s the vision anyway. Whether it works smoothly in practice remains to be seen.

Enterprise AI Battle Heats Up

Salesforce isn’t alone in pushing AI agents. Every major enterprise software company is racing to ship similar products.

The stakes are high. Companies that nail AI integration keep their customers. Those that lag risk losing market share to nimbler competitors.

Salesforce announced the revamped Slackbot at Dreamforce back in October. But the Tuesday launch marks general availability for paying customers. It’s part of Salesforce’s broader AI product strategy across the entire platform.

Harris said Slack rarely ships completely new features anymore. Instead, the company issues incremental updates to drive adoption. So this AI agent release signals how seriously Salesforce takes the opportunity.

Internal Testing Revealed Strong Demand

Salesforce tests new products with employees for months before public release. Harris joked they “drink their own champagne first.”

Slackbot became the most adopted internal tool they’ve ever launched. That’s significant because Salesforce employees use dozens of internal systems daily.

“Just seeing the sheer active user count is a great sign we have hit on product-market-fit,” Harris said. “Adopted, not mandated, in corporations.”

The distinction matters. Many enterprise tools get forced on employees who never actually use them. Organic adoption suggests real utility.

But internal enthusiasm doesn’t always translate to customer success. Salesforce employees work in tech and embrace new tools faster than typical office workers. So broader adoption remains unproven.

Voice and Web Browsing Coming Next

Harris views this launch as just the beginning. The current version handles text-based interactions within Slack. Future versions will expand capabilities significantly.

Voice interactions top the roadmap. Instead of typing requests, users could speak to Slackbot like they would to Siri or Alexa. That would make the agent more accessible during meetings or while multitasking.

Salesforce also plans web browsing features. This would let Slackbot search the internet alongside users and pull relevant information into conversations. Combined with app integrations, that creates a powerful research assistant.

Harris expressed confidence these investments will pay off across Salesforce’s entire business, not just Slack. The company clearly sees AI agents as central to its future strategy.

The Real Test Starts Now

Salesforce kept the Slackbot name because it’s already familiar to millions of users. But the technology underneath changed completely.

Now comes the hard part. Can this AI agent deliver enough value that companies rely on it daily? Or will it become another underused feature employees ignore?

ChatGPT succeeded because it made complex AI feel simple and immediately useful. Slackbot needs to hit that same sweet spot but for enterprise workflows. Harris thinks it will. Early adoption numbers suggest he might be right.

But plenty of overhyped AI products fizzled after launch. Enterprise customers want reliability and clear ROI, not flashy demos. So Salesforce needs to prove Slackbot works consistently across different companies and use cases.

The AI agent wars in enterprise software are heating up fast. Slackbot just entered the arena.