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Salesforce, Box integrate document AI into Slack

By Don Fluckinger

Joint users of Box and Slack can invoke Box generative AI tools on documents shared in Slack channels as of today.

The news comes ahead of Dreamforce, where Salesforce is expected to announce Einstein Copilot for Slack, which Salesforce previewed in June at its World Tour Boston event. Copilot for Slack will have some overlapping features for document summarization, but Box AI will unlock content within enterprise Box repositories that have security and access permissions to protect sensitive content -- and will keep it out of the hands of workers who don't.

Last month, Box AI moved from a consumption model that gave users a set number of queries to unlimited queries for Enterprise Plus subscribers. Box AI can access a number of competing large language models, including Google Gemini and OpenAI's GPT.

Box AI and Einstein Copilot for Slack are also not to be confused with Slack AI, generative AI features released earlier this year that summarize threads and enable Slack users to ask questions about information contained within them.

Features beyond document summaries also going live today in the Box-Slack AI integration include the following:

• Secure file previews of the most recent versions of entire Box documents, including PDFs, spreadsheets and slide decks from within Slack.
• Content cards that show in Slack changes made to a file as the Box file itself is changed.
• Updated Box for Slack workflows, which enable Slack users to create no-code workflows that incorporate Box content and automate business processes that tap Box documents for data.
• Admin tools for joint user authentication.

Salesforce has been touting its Einstein Copilot and Data Cloud products as technologies that can pull business value out of unstructured data, which is a difficult promise on which to deliver technically, said Alan Pelz-Sharpe, founder of Deep Analysis. Adding Box AI within Slack is one step closer to accomplishing that.

"Box provides Salesforce with the ability to secure, collaborate with and manage files to a degree that Salesforce alone cannot provide to its customers," Pelz-Sharpe said. "Box could become one of Salesforce's most important integrations. When you consider that Salesforce has around 11,000 partners, that's saying something."

In Boston last month, Slack CEO Denise Dresser said Einstein Copilot for Slack was planned for release in September. Generative AI will bring customer data and conversations in Salesforce into Slack channels -- and also bring Slack conversations into the Salesforce CRM.

"You [will be able] to talk to your CRM like you would a co-worker or colleague with Copilot in Slack," she said, "bringing all of that customer contact, all of that customer data right where you're interacting and moving work forward."

Don Fluckinger is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial. He covers customer experience, digital experience management and end-user computing. Got a tip? Email him.