Salesforce isn’t limiting its AI investment to Slack, either. In March 2023, Salesforce announced Einstein GPT, which the company calls the world’s first generative AI tool made specifically for customer relationship management. According to Salesforce, Einstein will deliver AI-generated content across Salesforce verticals, supporting all customer interactions with AI.
Both Einstein GPT and Slack’s new ChatGPT chatbot represent shifts in the way a major company expects its customers to interact with products. AI has historically been a niche tool intended for professional use. As late as 2017, SlashGear found that AI assistants still had serious obstacles to overcome.
In the six years since that assessment, customer engagement with AI has gone beyond even the most optimistic predictions. Microsoft and Google have laid out rival camps for AI dominance. There are rumors of a competing chatbot from Apple in the near future, too. All are built on the idea that users want to interact with AI directly.
In that respect, Slack’s new chatbot is more than a gadget. It’s a sign of the times. Conversational AI interfaces are rapidly becoming fundamental to end-user digital ecosystems.
