“This is where we start to move beyond the hype cycle” - Slack tells us why it can be the perfect operating system for your AI needs

At Dreamforce 2025, AI was undoubtedly the main attraction, with the company’s Agentforce platform leading the way.

However another huge presence at the show was Slack, and its upgraded AI assistant, Slackbot, which promises to help unlock productivity for workers at all levels - with increased intelligence and context awareness.

With Slack now a common online collaboration tool in businesses across the globe, how can it utilize this new AI era to become more than just a place to chat and share memes with your co-workers? I spoke to Ryan Gavin, Slack CMO at the show, to find out.

Agents + humans = the perfect match?

“The truth is that it's absolutely, fundamentally clear, with every customer we talk to, every partner we speak with - agents will be core to how we work in the future,” Gavin told me at Dreamforce 2025, “some of the most innovative companies out there right now are completely building out a digital workforce with agents.”

But in order to become smarter and ultimately, more useful, agents need context in order to better understand the information they are being presented with, as Gavin says, “agents are trained on data, but that context is what turns agents into true teammates - and that context lives in conversations, and those conversations live in Slack”

“This is where we start to move beyond the hype cycle - and really see companies who are innovating and building new capabilities,” says Gavin.

When it comes to the possibilities of what AI and agents can do for businesses - this is where Slack comes in. At Dreamforce, the company made a hard pitch to become a true enterprise OS.

Gavin notes many companies are already dealing with tens or even hundreds of apps - which are all likely to give birth to agents imminently, if they haven’t already - and Slack can be the place where these agents live, integrating seamlessly into a familiar interface, removing friction, and boosting productivity for workers.

“The most natural place to bring agents is right next to the humans,” he says, “we talk about Slack being a great host - and part of that is saying, how do I not make you think? How do you get to use these agents at work and not make you think.”

“All those agents need a home - and Slack is a perfect home for them…a place for all of those to come together…a work operating system for your organization, and that means we’re open - so it’s just as easy for me to launch a Teams meeting from Slack as it is for Zoom, as it is for Google Meet - all of those things integrate agents that can work across platforms, and can be great hosts inside of Slack.”

All hail Slackbot

Slackbot was another major announcement at Dreamforce, with Gavin noting that the AI assistant had “gone viral” with all the attention it was receiving.

“The reason is, it knows me,” he says, “unlike all the other AI assistants or even many of the agents out there - Slackbot knows.”

“It makes me instantly smart about whatever subject matter is being talked about in the room…I can say things like, 'what is my team working on right now?' - it has the context, it knows who my team is, they can understand that from the context of the channels that I’m working in, and can then go through and compile insights…instantly I’m getting a true productivity upgrade (and) this is going to be a real game-changer.”

Slack’s Peter Doolan had mentioned “AI superpowers” in the company’s keynote, and Gavin notes how the consumer expectation of how we get things done is now increasingly becoming the norm at work too - “I can’t remember the last time I went to a website to find information - I just expect my phone to be able to tell me,” he says.

“The idea of AI integrated across Slack isn't about whizzbang tools, it's about how do you take these things, and the expectation of work now and bring that seamlessly inside.”

“In the flow of work and Slack, I want native AI right there just to make everything smarter, faster, a little bit easier…it goes back to one of Slack’s fundamental principles from a product perspective, which is, ‘don't make me think’...just work the way you work today, but just do it in a way where AI is here, and it's not a new tool to learn, it’s just right there.”

“Slack brings a new dimension to data...which is the AI gold for agents, as it provides context.”

Ultimately, at the heart of productivity is growth, Gavin notes - and although unlocking this across a whole business can be incredibly tough, the rewards can be huge.

“What you’re seeing now is a democratization of access to capability,” he says, “so you may be incredible with analytics and numbers, but maybe you’re not so creative. Well guess what? Here’s a creative agent that can help you generate, and write that email a little bit better…you still have your capabilities, but now you get to have these superpowers!”

“The businesses that think about how to maximise the potential of their employees are going to be the businesses that grow the fastest.”

Looking forward, Gavin says he’s excited by the fact that some of the world’s biggest and oldest companies are leaning into transformation ideas, and the need to reimagine how they work in order to survive and grow.

“All these AI capabilities are unbelievable, and they’re empowering all of us,” Gavin notes, “we're still filling our time, but what we’re finding is that we're filling our time with that more meaningful work.”

“We’re now seeing the reality - the vision of Slack as the front end for Agentforce 360 platform and CRM, where talking to your data is as easy as you and I having a conversation.”

“I have no doubt the next coolest startups are going to build in Slack.”