Get to Know Slack AI
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Outline the features included in Slack AI.
- Summarize conversations and files using AI functionality.
- Utilize AI-powered search.
- Review and manage daily recaps.
Meet Slack AI
We already know that Slack is the hub for intuitive communication and collaboration in the modern workplace. Slack continues to revolutionize the way we work by integrating generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, automation, and digital agents directly into its platform. Slack AI uses the collective data and knowledge already in Slack to create a secure and trustworthy AI experience tailored to you and your organization, unlocking new levels of productivity and success.
With Slack AI, you can:
-
Summarize conversations and files to catch up on activity in one click.
-
Search for answers that deliver personalized, intelligent responses to your questions.
-
Recap content daily to generate key highlights and identify themes.
These new AI features in Slack are easy to use and prioritize exactly what you need to know, when you need to know it. Watch this video to learn more.
Slack AI is an add-on for paid Slack plans (Pro, Business+, and Enterprise), and is available on your desktop or mobile device.
Summarize Conversations
You can save time across channels, threads, and direct messages (DMs) with AI-generated summaries in Slack. Whether you’ve been out of the office, recently joined a project, or need the latest information on a new customer, Slack AI summarizes the conversations you want to know about in seconds.
Summarize Channels and DMs
In channels and DMs, you can summarize just your unread messages, the past 7 days, or a custom date range (desktop only).
- Open the channel or DM you’d like to summarize.
- Click
.
- Choose an option to generate your summary.
Your summary will appear when it’s finished. Click 
to review the summary sources.
Summarize Threads
Summaries for threads will always be for the entire thread.
- Open the thread you’d like to summarize.
- Click
.
Your summary will appear when it’s finished. Click 
to review the summary sources.
Summaries can take longer to generate for larger time frames or message histories. Slack notifies you when your summary is ready.
Summarize Files
Just like conversations, Slack AI summarizes certain text-based file types (.pdf, .docx, .pptx, and .xlsx) found in Slack. Slack AI automatically summarizes shared files so you can get up to speed quickly.
- AI summaries are only available for files that are accessible to everyone in the working group.
- A summary will automatically appear below the file with a
.
- To view the detailed summary, hover over the file and click View summary.
File summaries appear in the same language as the file, regardless of your language preferences.
Search to Find Answers
If you often lose essential time digging through Slack for the details you need to complete your work, Slack AI can help. You can ask Slack your burning work-related questions and AI search will provide a clear, concise, and relevant answer based on information found in conversations and files. Just use natural language, and let AI search do the rest.
- Click the Search field at the top of Slack.
- Type your question into the search field and press Enter.
- Slack AI answers appear at the top of your search results.
Search Smarter
Use these tips to get the best results possible when searching with Slack AI.
Start simple. To get the most from AI search, ask it a question as if you’re asking a friend. Straightforward questions that start with “how” or “what” or keywords, like a project name, tend to work best.
Consider the source material. AI search only draws from information you and your coworkers share in Slack, rather than the internet at large. AI search answers are unique to you—using only data you have access to. AI search answers reference most types of sources uploaded to Slack, including canvases, lists, DMs, shared links, and uploaded text files.
Rely on citations. AI search answers include 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.
Recap Your Day
Are you dealing with information overload? Let the AI recap feature in Slack help you keep up with the fast pace of communication. With AI recap, you can get caught up across your teams and projects with a customized recap of unread content in a single view. You get to choose which important channels to include in your personal daily digest and then continue your flow of work, knowing AI recap will fill you in later.
Set Up Recap
- Click Recap
in your sidebar.
- Choose the channels you want to include in your recap.
- Select Add Channels.
Read Your Daily Recap
- Click
in your sidebar.
- Review your recap. Click
to review a recap’s sources or click 
next to any channel to remove it from future recaps.
Tip: You can 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.
- From your desktop, click
in your sidebar.
- Click
in the top right.
- To add conversations to your recap, search for and select the channel you’d like to add. Add as many channels as you’d like.
- To remove conversations, uncheck the boxes next to the conversations you no longer want to include.
- Mute or unmute channels by clicking the toggle.
- Click Save.
From summary to search to recap, Slack AI is your new work best friend for saving time, catching up, and boosting productivity. In the next unit, we learn how to use automation to keep Slack working for you.