University IT
Stanford Slack AI
Introducing Slack AI
Stanford Slack is now smarter and more efficient. Two new AI-driven features help you organize your conversations, capture meeting highlights, and find the information you need, when you need it.
Explore the AI Features
Conversation Summaries
What it does:
Summarizes the main points of a conversation in a thread, DM, or channel
When to use:
- Catch up on missed discussions
- Onboard to a new team or project
How it works:
- Open the chat you want to summarize (channel, DM, or thread).
- Click the Summarize channel icon in the top right of the conversation header.
- In channels and DMs, choose to summarize all messages for your desired time frame, or just those you haven't read.
- A summary of the conversation's key insights appears in a separate pane.
- Click the More detail icon to jump to the source messages.
- Conversation summaries disappear when you close the result or navigate away.
Huddle Notes
What it does:
Automates note-taking during huddle calls
When to use:
- Focus on the discussion, not documenting details
- Capture key takeaways and action items
How it works:
- Begin a huddle in your channel or DM.
- Click the AI notes icon in the bottom left of the huddle window, which says AI Notes: Off.
- To turn on the feature, click Start AI Notes and Transcription and then Start Notes.
- A message lets everyone know the meeting is being transcribed.
- Any participant can turn note-taking on or off or cancel it at any time.
- After the huddle, a shared Canvas with a transcript and summary is posted in the DM or channel.
- Everyone in the channel or DM where the huddle occurred can view the notes. Permissions are managed in the same as any Canvas.
Security and Privacy
- Slack AI features are built to be intuitive and easy to use, while upholding all of Slack's enterprise-grade security and compliance standards.
- Customer data never leaves a Slack-controlled infrastructure, and Slack doesn't use customer data to train its large language models.
- Slack's AI features only work with data that members have access to, meaning summaries will only display content you can already see in channels or DMs.
- Slack employs methods to attempt to reduce hallucinations. However, AI tools are helpful but not perfect. Always review AI-generated notes for accuracy and exercise caution when handling sensitive information.
- As a reminder, Stanford Slack is approved for Low and Moderate Data and High Risk Data WITHOUT protected health information (PHI). Non-PHI High Risk Data may be shared in private channels or direct messages only.
- Slack's AI Huddle Notes are approved, but the university advises against the use of third-party bots in meetings due to privacy and data security issues. Visit Stanford's Responsible AI guide to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is using AI features in Slack different from using another AI tool?
Slack's conversation summaries and huddle notes offer automated AI solutions built into the platform, eliminating the need to switch between applications and manually copy and paste.
Are Slack's conversation summaries saved to a DM, channel, or thread?
When you generate an on-demand conversation or thread summary, it appears in a separate pane on the right. However, conversation summaries are "ephemeral," meaning once you navigate away or close it, the summary disappears.
What information do huddle notes contain?
In addition to the date and time that the huddle took place, notes typically include a list of participants, a summary of topics discussed, action items assigned to stakeholders, and a full transcript of the conversation. The link to the transcript opens in the right pane of the Canvas.
Who can activate huddle notes?
Once the huddle starts, any member in the huddle can manually turn on AI notes and transcription during the call, unless a workspace admin has restricted this ability.
How will I know when AI-generated notes (and transcript) are being taken during a huddle?
When the AI note-taking feature is activated, all participants will see a message letting them know AI notes are on and on and what to expect. Participants can choose to continue or opt to leave the huddle.
Additionally, a banner will remain visible for the duration of the meeting indicating the feature is active, and audio cues let you know when note-taking is turned off or the notes and transcript are deleted.
How will I know if someone in the huddle turns note-taking off or deletes the notes?
Anyone in the huddle can opt to turn note-taking off or delete the notes and transcript at any time. A banner will appear for all participants indicating that note-taking has stopped, paused, or been canceled. Additionally, audio cues let you know when note-taking is turned off or the notes and transcript are deleted.
What are the limitations of huddle notes?
AI huddle notes are not available when the huddle includes external guests or people from other workspaces.
Can huddle notes be edited?
Yes, a Canvas allows for collaborative editing, so multiple participants can add or edit the notes simultaneously, if they have edit access.
Who can view or share AI-generated notes and summaries?
Everyone in the channel or DM where the huddle took place can view the notes and summaries in the Canvas. Permissions are managed in the same way as for any other Slack Canvas.
How long are huddle notes retained?
AI huddle notes Canvases are retained indefinitely until deleted.
Resources and Support
Learn more
- To learn more about using Slack, visit Slack's help center.
- To learn more about using AI responsibly at Stanford, visit the guide.
- Learn more about Stanford Slack.
- Learn more about GenAI tools at Stanford.
Get help
If you need assistance, please submit a Help request to the Stanford Slack team.
Copyright Stanford University. Stanford, California 94305.