Understand AI apps in Slack
Some apps in the Slack Marketplace are built to include AI assistants or agents. These apps feature a distinct messaging surface in Slack on desktop that you can use to interact with third-party AI tools alongside your work in channels and direct messages (DMs).
What you need to know
- Apps with agents and assistants can be built by third-party developers or by developers in your organization, and are distinct from native Slack AI features.
- AI apps installed from the Slack Marketplace follow our policies and guidelines, and you can review any app’s privacy policy and security and compliance information from the listing page in the Marketplace.
- By default, members can install apps with AI assistants or agents, but owners and admins can enable app approval for their workspace or Enterprise organization to approve, restrict, or review apps before they’re installed.
- To view and use apps installed to your workspace or org, click More in the sidebar of Slack on desktop and select Automations. Then, click Apps in the left sidebar.
Work with AI agents and assistants
Once you install an app with an AI agent or assistant, everyone in your workspace or organization can start using it right away. There are two places to interact with agents and assistants in Slack — in split view (a built-in conversational surface alongside your channels and DMs) or from an app’s Home tab.
Chat in a split view
To simultaneously work in Slack and interact with an agent or assistant, you can start a chat that will open on the right side of Slack on desktop or in a browser.
- From your desktop, click the agent or assistant icon in the top-right corner of Slack. If there are you multiple agents or assistants available, click the down arrow to choose the one you want.
- Select a prompt if available, or send a message to get started.
- To view your message history, click the clock icon.
Chat from an app Home tab
You can also start a conversation with an agent or assistant from an app’s Home tab.
- From your desktop, hover over More, then select Automations.
- Click Apps in the left sidebar, then search for and select an app.
- Click New Chat in the top-right corner, or click the Chat tab to resume a conversation.
- To view your chat history, click the History tab.
Manage agent and assistant display
When you install an AI app, its agent or assistant will display at the top of Slack on desktop by default. Owners and admins can hide or show agents and assistants for everyone in their workspace or org, and members can set a preference to determine which they see.
- From your desktop, click your profile picture in the sidebar.
- Select Preferences from the menu, then click Navigation.
- Below App agents & assistants, or uncheck the box next to any agents or assistants you want to show or hide. To hide all agents and assistants, uncheck the box next to Show app agents.
App security
Apps you add to Slack that include AI capabilities use the AI functionality specific to the third-party service.
- Apps with AI agents or assistants are built with specific scopes and API methods. Before installing an app, it’s important to consider its scopes to understand the actions the app can take, the data the app can access, and what it can do with that data. Owners and admins can enable app approval (for a workspace) or set an app management policy (for an Enterprise organization) to ensure that apps are reviewed before members can install them.
- The data that an AI app in Slack can access depends on its scopes. By default, an app will have access to the data in your messages with the app. To grant it access to data in your channels or direct messages, you can add the app to any conversation.
- In accordance with the Slack app guidelines, no customer data is used or retained to train third-party LLMs. Instead, we use a technique called Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) that sends the data necessary for each task to an LLM at the time of inference — no training required. Because this data is sent in the context of a single request, the LLM does not retain any of the data.
- All apps available in the Slack Marketplace are reviewed by our team against our submission guidelines and must adhere to a zero copy and zero LLM training policy.
FAQs
Are AI apps different than apps built without AI?
No. Apps with AI capabilities follow the same policies, development, distribution, and review process as any other app built for Slack. The scopes used in AI apps allow developers to incorporate their AI into apps they build, but these apps cannot interact with Slack differently than others.
Can I disable an app’s AI capability or limit its access?
No, because an app’s AI capabilities are tied to the permission scopes it uses. When you install an app, you can’t be selective with which scopes it can request. If an app contains scopes you don’t want used in your workspace, you can restrict it so it cannot be installed. If you install an app that you no longer want, you can remove it.
I already have an app installed, will it be automatically updated if AI capabilities are added?
When a developer changes how their app works, you’ll need to grant permission for the new scopes by re-authorizing the app’s connection to your Slack workspace or Enterprise org. Until you update an app, its new capabilities won’t be available.