the messaging apps where millions of office workers share memes and coordinate projects to quietly transform into something more ambitious: a platform where artificial intelligence agents work with people as digital co-workers.

As part of Salesforce’s sweeping AI initiative announced Tuesday, Slack is evolving from a communication tool to what company officials call a “work operating system” — one where AI agents can attend your meetings, summarize your conversations , make presentations, and even negotiate with other AI agents for you.

“We’re on a journey to create what we call an operating system at work — one that simplifies the complexity of all the systems you use every day,” said Slack CPO Rob Seaman, who oversees AI integration. of the company, in an interview with VentureBeat. “While messaging and human interaction remain at its core, the system now provides access to automation and all the apps you need to do your job, including AI agents, which we believe will be key players at work.”

The new digital workplace: AI Agents as your constant companion

The change can already be seen in companies like Accenturewhere client executives use AI agents within Slack to reduce time spent on administrative tasks. These agents can prepare for meetings, summarize discussions, and even draft proposals – all within the familiar Slack interface where employees already spend their workday.

“To ensure that these AI agents are widely adopted and continue to improve, it’s important to integrate them where people already work,” Seaman explained.

Inside Slack’s game-changer AI integration: What you need to know

Unlike traditional chatbots or AI assistants that require users to visit separate websites or apps, AI agents in Slack integrate directly into existing workflows. They appear in channels with human companions and can be called through natural conversation.

The system is designed to be accessible to non-technical users. “There’s really no code involved,” Seaman said. “From the end user’s perspective, there’s really no technical work for you.”

But the implications for workplace dynamics are far more profound. In demonstrations, AI agents have shown that they can independently schedule meetings, analyze documents, create visualizations, and even collaborate with other AI agents on complex tasks.

For example, during Tuesday’s presentation, an AI agent helped an Accenture executive who had returned from vacation get up quickly to facilitate client activities, prepare for upcoming meetings, and draft a proposal – tasks that usually take hours of human effort.

Building trust and control: How Slack’s AI protects your data

While Salesforce will provide template agents for common business tasks, Seaman expects most organizations to customize their AI workers for specific needs.

“We will provide ready-to-use templates that will meet about 80% of most needs, but we expect organizations to customize their AI agents for specific purposes,” he said. “We’re already seeing this pattern with Slack — companies tend to increasingly customize the platform to fit their needs.”

The company has built several safety measures into the system. “Agents are executing on your behalf without more authorization than what you have,” Seaman explains. “They don’t have God’s permission or admin permission… we don’t create any holes for AI to see things it shouldn’t.”

The human-AI partnership: Redefining collaboration in the workplace

For many employees, the prospect of AI partners raises concerns about job displacement. But Salesforce executives frame it as an addition to human capabilities rather than a replacement.

“This is not about handing over data. It’s about unlocking the full potential of data to empower agents to better understand your business and your customers and empower agents to take more effective actions,” said Claire Cheng, VP of Machine Learning and Engineering at Salesforce.

Looking ahead, Salesforce envisions even more sophisticated collaboration between human workers and AI. Future versions will enable multiple AI agents to collaborate on complex tasks, with specialized agents handling different aspects of projects.

“Now there is one person who is awakening different agents,” Silvio Savarese, who leads AI research at Salesforce, told VentureBeat. “The future will have an orchestrator agent that will call different specialized agents to talk, collaborate, do tasks.”

This vision of the workplace – where humans and AI agents work together seamlessly through platforms like Slack – represents a fundamental change in how the office works. And while the full implications remain to be seen, one thing is clear: the office chat app where you share cat GIFs is about to get a lot more powerful.

“We’re at the beginning of the beginning,” said Marc Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce. “When you’re at the beginning of the beginning, you see these little things, and then you try to extrapolate what they are. It’s a rare moment.”