Slack artificial intelligence, machine learning and data usage
This guide is a supplemental resource that provides detailed information about the data practices that Slack uses in building artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) features.
Tip: We recommend reading Our approach to AI and machine learning before reviewing the more detailed information below.
Data overview
As defined in our privacy policy, customer data is comprised of the following:
- Message data, e.g. the content of a message
- File data, e.g. files uploaded to Slack
- Object data, e.g. a channel or a list
- Transcription data, e.g. the transcript from a huddle
Slack does not use customer data to train large language models (LLMs) used in generative AI features. As defined in the Slack privacy policy, our systems may analyse usage information (such as how often a feature is used or interacted with) and workspace information (such as the number of users in a workspace or workspace settings) for ML features.
Types of models
We use a variety of models to power Slack’s AI and machine learning features. Understanding these models and how they work is key to understanding how your data is used.
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Generative models
These models use third-party LLMs to create an output. Customer data is not used to train these models. -
Predictive models
These models use machine learning algorithms to power features such as channel recommendations and emoji suggestions. Most of our predictive models are global models, meaning that they are trained on aggregate data from multiple customers.
How features use models and data
The table below outlines the data and models that power specific Slack features.
| Feature | Examples* | Data used | Generative model used? | Predictive model used? |
| Summarisation | Channel summaries, file summaries, huddle notes and recaps |
Customer data: Message, file and transcription data Other information: Workspace, account and usage information |
Yes, e.g. to generate a summary Note: This model never uses customer data for training |
Yes, e.g. to personalise a summary Note: This is a global model, but no customer data is used for training |
| Search | Natural language search, search ranking |
Customer data: Message, file, transcription and Slack object data Other information: Workspace, account and usage information |
Yes, e.g. to generate a search answer Note: This model never uses customer data for training |
Yes, e.g. to rank search results Note: This is a global model, but no customer data is used for training |
| Recommendations | User search, channel search, channel archive, join and leave suggestions and VIP |
Customer data: N/A Other information: Usage information |
No |
Yes, e.g. to make recommendations Note: This is a global model, but no customer data is used for training |
| AI actions | AI workflow creation, summarise channel workflow step |
Customer data: Message, file, transcription and Slack object data Other information: Workspace and account information |
Yes, e.g. to generate workflows from natural language queries and to power summary and search workflow steps Note: This model never uses customer data for training |
No |
| Autocomplete | @mention recommendations, search navigation suggestions |
Customer data: N/A Other information: Workspace, account and usage information |
No |
Yes, e.g. to produce recommendations Note: This is a global model, but no customer data is used for training |
| Spam | Spam detection models to prevent abuse of the platform |
Customer data: N/A Other information: Workspace, account and usage information |
No |
Yes, e.g. to classify spam Note: This is a global model, but no customer data is used during training |
| Translation | Language detection, AI language translation |
Customer data: Message, file and transcription data Other information: Workspace, account and usage information |
Yes, e.g. to generate translations Note: This model never uses customer data for training |
Yes, e.g. to detect language for translations Note: This is not a global model |
*The Examples column of this table is included for illustrative purposes and does not comprise an exhaustive list of Slack features.