Slack Is Reportedly Working On an AI-Powered File Summary Feature

Slack’s AI file summary feature will reportedly show a preview of the summary when the file is shared in a conversation.

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 13 November 2024 13:24 IST

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Stephen Phillips

Users can reportedly share their feedback on Slack’s AI file summary feature

Highlights

Slack will reportedly not summarise files that are too large or too small
The platform already offers an AI conversation summary tool
Slack’s AI feature is said to not summarise password-protected files

Slack, the work management and productivity platform, is reportedly working on a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature. As per a report, the new feature is called AI file summary, and it can summarise documents uploaded to the platform. The new feature is said to be able to summarise text-heavy files to help users quickly get a gist of the topic. This is an under-development feature, so it might not be visible to current users. Further, once the feature is released for users, it might be limited to users with a paid subscription to Slack and the AI add-on.

Slack Reportedly Working on AI File Summary Feature

An Android Authority report detailed the under-development feature during an application package kit (APK) teardown process. The publication found evidence of the feature in the recent Slack app for Android version 24-10-50-0. Several strings of code were reportedly unearthed that not only highlighted the functionality of the feature but also listed its limitations.

Based on the strings, it appears the AI feature could be offered as a separate section on the platform, where users can upload files and get a quick summary of it. These summaries are said to be sharable and can be seen when the file is forwarded to another conversation. However, one string reportedly also highlights that users can choose to disable the summary when sharing a file.

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The strings reportedly also highlighted that the AI File Summary feature on Slack will not work if the file size is too large or if there is not enough text to summarise. At present, the defined limits for these margins are not known. Additionally, another string reportedly revealed that only certain file formats will be supported, and password-protected files will not be summarised. Speculatively, it can be said that PDF, Word, and Text formats could be supported initially.

Further, the publication was able to retrieve more strings with the “AI file summary” tag, which highlighted more functionalities as well as the feedback system that might be implemented. For instance, Slack says that users can remove and delete the AI-generated summary from file details if it is not satisfactory. However, this process is said to be irreversible.

Users can reportedly offer feedback to Slack on how well the feature is working. Some of the things they can choose, based on the strings, include feedback such as whether the information was accurate or inaccurate, whether it included too much or too little detail, and whether the layout was difficult or easy to understand.

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Further reading: Slack, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Apps

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More