Guide to Slack AI

We take our commitment to protecting customer data seriously. Learn how we built Slack to be secure and private.

Slack AI is a set of generative AI tools built directly into Slack that allow you to search smarter, instantly summarise conversations and more – so you and your team can be at your most productive. Slack AI uses the conversation data already in Slack to create an intuitive and secure AI experience tailored to you and your organisation.

Interested in Slack AI? Purchase Slack AI or contact our Sales team for more information. 

Summarise conversations

Save time by getting up to speed more quickly across channels, threads and direct messages (DMs). Whether you’re joining a new channel, returning from time off or catching up on a fast-moving discussion, Slack AI can summarise conversations in seconds.

Summarise channels and DMs

In channels and DMs, you can summarise just your unread messages, the last seven days or a custom date range (desktop only).

Desktop

Mobile

1. Open the channel or DM you'd like to summarise.
2. Click the   Summarise icon.
3. Choose an option to generate your summary.

Your summary will appear when it’s finished. If you like, click the   More details icon to review the summary’s sources.

1. Open the channel or DM you'd like to summarise.
2. Tap the   Summarise icon.
3. Choose an option to generate your summary.
4. When your summary is ready, you’ll see a badge on the   Summarise icon. Tap it to view your summary.

Tip: You can use Slack AI to take huddle notes by pressing the  AI notes icon in any huddle. 

Summarise threads

Summaries for threads will always be for the entire thread. 

Desktop

Mobile

1. Open the thread that you'd like to summarise.
2. Click the   Summarise icon.

Your summary will appear when it’s finished. If you want to, click the   More details icon to review the summary's sources.

1. Open the thread that you'd like to summarise.
2. Tap the   Summarise icon.
3. When your summary is ready, you’ll see a badge on the   Summarise icon. Tap it to view your summary.

Note: Summaries can take longer to generate for larger time frames or message histories. We’ll notify you when your summary is ready, so feel free to take a break or move on to other work in the meantime.

Summarise files

When you share certain text-based file types (.pdf, .docx, .pptx and .xlsx) in channels or DMs, Slack AI will automatically summarise the file so that people can catch up quickly. 

• AI summaries are only available for files that are accessible to everyone
• A summary will appear below the file with a   Summarise icon.
• To view a more detailed summary, hover over the file and click   View summary.

Note: File summaries will appear in the same language as the file, regardless of your language preferences.

Manage your file summaries

You can adjust whether to show Slack AI file summaries. If disabled, file summaries won’t be generated for any file that you upload, and you won’t see summaries for other people's files.

1. Click your profile picture in the sidebar.
   
2. Select Preferences.
3. Choose   Slack AI. 
4. Below File summaries, choose whether you’d like Slack AI to summarise files that you upload and display summaries for files that other people upload.

Note: Slack AI will summarise files by default, but owners and admins can restrict this.  

Search for answers

Ask a question in your own words and get a concise answer based on relevant knowledge already in Slack. Try asking questions that start with 'how' or 'what' or keywords such as a project name to get started.

Desktop

Mobile

1. Click on the search field at the top of Slack.
2. Type your question into the search field and press Enter.
3. Slack AI answers will appear at the top of your search results.

Slack AI answers will have citations that refer to the source messages or files that informed them. Hover over a citation to preview the source or click on it to view the message or file in Slack.

1. Tap the search field at the top of Slack.
2. Type your question into the search field and tap Search or the   magnifying glass on your device's keyboard
3. Slack AI answers will appear at the top of your search results.

Slack AI answers will have citations that refer to the source messages that informed them. Tap a citation to view the source message or file in Slack.

Tip: Get more out of search answers by visiting Tips for searching with Slack AI.

Recap your day

Start your day by getting caught up with a customised summary of your unread channels. With daily recaps, you can get automated daily summaries for channels that you’re interested in keeping tabs on, but don’t want to interrupt you throughout your work day.

• When you set up your recap for the first time, Slack AI will recommend a few channels that it might be helpful to have a recap for – ones that you visit often, but don’t tend to participate in.
• Once you review which channels to include and turn recap on, you can mute those channels to keep your sidebar focused and tidy, or unmute the conversations that you'd like to continue to be notified for.
• You’ll get a new recap every morning with what you’ve missed from the previous day.

Note: Owners and admins can choose whether members can use daily recaps. If you can’t see the option to view your recap, contact an owner or admin and ask for help.

Read your daily recap

Desktop

Mobile

1. Select   Recap in your sidebar.
2. Review your recap. Click the   More detail icon to review a recap’s sources or click the   three dots icon next to any channel to remove it from future recaps.

1. From   Home, tap   Recap.
2. Review your recap. Tap a message to view more details, including the recap’s sources.

Tip: You can also easily add conversations to your recap by right-clicking them in the sidebar and selecting Add to recap.

Manage your daily recap

You can adjust the conversations in your recap at any time, and decide which channels should be muted in your sidebar to keep it tidy.

1. From your desktop, click   Recap in the sidebar.
2. Click on the   cog icon in the top right.
3. To add conversations to your recap, search for and select the channel that you’d like to add. Add as many channels as you’d like.
4. To remove conversations, untick the boxes next to the conversations that you no longer want to include.
5. Mute or unmute channels by clicking the toggle.
6. Click Save

FAQ

How does Slack AI work?

Slack AI uses third-party large language models (LLMs) hosted within Slack’s secure infrastructure to power conversation summaries and search answers.

Can I use Slack AI on my mobile device?

Yes. Slack AI is supported on both our iOS and Android apps.

How does billing for Slack AI work?

Billing for Slack AI will follow a similar structure to your subscription type. You will be billed for all active workspace members on a price-per-user basis and terms will be aligned with subscription terms – just like our Fair Billing policy. Everyone in your workspace or Enterprise Grid org will have unlimited use when you purchase Slack AI.

Does Slack AI search canvases and files?

Yes. By default, Slack AI will search most files in Slack but owners and admins can restrict this if they’d like.

What plans and languages is Slack AI available in?

Slack AI is currently available as a paid add-on for paid subscriptions, with support for English, Spanish and Japanese. Support for additional languages is coming soon.

What language will I see Slack AI content in?

Slack AI talks to you in the language that you set in your individual language preferences. This means that if you set your language preference to Japanese, your Slack AI responses will be presented in Japanese. If you would like Slack AI to respond to you in another language, adjust your Slack language preferences.

What does 'language support' mean for Slack AI?

When you initiate a summary, recap or search, Slack AI sends only the most relevant messages to the LLM to create a summary. To do this, Slack messages get filtered through different language-specific models to find and rank highly relevant information. When we say that a language is supported, it means that language has its own filtering models, and we’ve done quality testing on the results.

Currently, Slack AI supports Japanese, Spanish and English. If you use Slack in a language not available in your preferences, Slack AI will still return results, but you may see a difference in quality.

Is Slack AI secure?

Slack is committed to data ownership, security and privacy, and Slack AI has been built to uphold those commitments from day one. Visit our Security for Slack AI FAQ.

Who can use this feature?

• All members (including guests) 
• Available on paid subscriptions as a paid add-on