Slack is introducing a number of new AI-powered tools to make team collaboration easier and more intuitive.

“Today, 60% of organizations are using generative AI. But most still fall short of its productivity promise. We’re changing that by putting AI where work already happens — in your messages, your docs, your search — all designed to be intuitive, secure, and built for the way teams actually work,” Slack wrote in a blog post. 

The new enterprise search capability will enable users to search not just in Slack, but any app that is connected to Slack. It can search across systems of record like Salesforce or Confluence, file repositories like Google Drive or OneDrive, developer tools like GitHub or Jira, and project management tools like Asana. 

“Enterprise search is about turning fragmented information into actionable insights, helping you make quicker, more informed decisions, without leaving Slack,” the company explained.

The platform is also getting AI-generated channel recaps and thread summaries, helping users catch up on conversations quickly. It is introducing AI-powered translations as well to enable users to read and respond in their preferred language. 

Enterprise search, recaps, and translations are now generally available, and the company also revealed some additional upcoming AI features that will be added to the platform soon, including AI message explanations, AI action items, AI writing assistance in canvas, AI profile summaries, and a unified files view. 

AI message explanations will provide an instant explanation of a message by hovering over it, AI profile summaries provide context about a team member’s role and recent work, and AI-generated action items will be created when a user is mentioned in a message that includes a follow-up, deadline, or request. 

AI writing assistance will be able to summarize key points, extract action items, generate a first draft, or rewrite content to fit a desired tone. 

Finally, Slack will be introducing unified file views, bringing all canvases, lists, and shared documents into a single organized space. Previously these features were separated into different tabs of the app. 

“As collaboration scales, so does the need to keep content organized and accessible. By centralizing your content, Slack helps your team reduce friction and keep work moving. It’s another step in building a work OS that is not only powerful but also delightfully simple,” the company said. 

In terms of privacy and security, Slack clarified that it does not use customer data to train generative AI models. It also says that the AI will only surface information that a user is already allowed to access. Additionally, all of the platform’s AI features comply with Slack’s existing enterprise-grade security and compliance standards. 

These new AI features are only available in Slack’s paid plans. The Pro plan includes basic AI summarization for channels, threads, and huddles. The Business+ plan includes everything in Pro, as well as recaps, translations, workflow generation, and AI-powered search. The Enterprise+ plan includes all of Slack’s AI features, including enterprise search, evolved task management, and enterprise-grade security and governance controls.