MAROKO133 Update ai: Salesforce rolls out new Slackbot AI agent as it battles Microsoft an

📌 MAROKO133 Update ai: Salesforce rolls out new Slackbot AI agent as it battles Mi

Salesforce on Tuesday launched an entirely rebuilt version of Slackbot, the company's workplace assistant, transforming it from a simple notification tool into what executives describe as a fully powered AI agent capable of searching enterprise data, drafting documents, and taking action on behalf of employees.

The new Slackbot, now generally available to Business+ and Enterprise+ customers, is Salesforce's most aggressive move yet to position Slack at the center of the emerging "agentic AI" movement — where software agents work alongside humans to complete complex tasks. The launch comes as Salesforce attempts to convince investors that artificial intelligence will bolster its products rather than render them obsolete.

"Slackbot isn't just another copilot or AI assistant," said Parker Harris, Salesforce co-founder and Slack's chief technology officer, in an exclusive interview with Salesforce. "It's the front door to the agentic enterprise, powered by Salesforce."

From tricycle to Porsche: Salesforce rebuilt Slackbot from the ground up

Harris was blunt about what distinguishes the new Slackbot from its predecessor: "The old Slackbot was, you know, a little tricycle, and the new Slackbot is like, you know, a Porsche."

The original Slackbot, which has existed since Slack's early days, performed basic algorithmic tasks — reminding users to add colleagues to documents, suggesting channel archives, and delivering simple notifications. The new version runs on an entirely different architecture built around a large language model and sophisticated search capabilities that can access Salesforce records, Google Drive files, calendar data, and years of Slack conversations.

"It's two different things," Harris explained. "The old Slackbot was algorithmic and fairly simple. The new Slackbot is brand new — it's based around an LLM and a very robust search engine, and connections to third-party search engines, third-party enterprise data."

Salesforce chose to retain the Slackbot brand despite the fundamental technical overhaul. "People know what Slackbot is, and so we wanted to carry that forward," Harris said.

Why Anthropic's Claude powers the new Slackbot — and which AI models could come next

The new Slackbot runs on Claude, Anthropic's large language model, a choice driven partly by compliance requirements. Slack's commercial service operates under FedRAMP Moderate certification to serve U.S. federal government customers, and Harris said Anthropic was "the only provider that could give us a compliant LLM" when Slack began building the new system.

But that exclusivity won't last. "We are, this year, going to support additional providers," Harris said. "We have a great relationship with Google. Gemini is incredible — performance is great, cost is great. So we're going to use Gemini for some things." He added that OpenAI remains a possibility as well.

Harris echoed Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's view that large language models are becoming commoditized: "You've heard Marc talk about LLMs are commodities, that they're democratized. I call them CPUs."

On the sensitive question of training data, Harris was unequivocal: Salesforce does not train any models on customer data. "Models don't have any sort of security," he explained. "If we trained it on some confidential conversation that you and I have, I don't want Carolyn to know — if I train it into the LLM, there is no way for me to say you get to see the answer, but Carolyn doesn't."

Inside Salesforce's internal experiment: 80,000 employees tested Slackbot with striking results

Salesforce has been testing the new Slackbot internally for months, rolling it out to all 80,000 employees. According to Ryan Gavin, Slack's chief marketing officer, the results have been striking: "It's the fastest adopted product in Salesforce history."

Internal data shows that two-thirds of Salesforce employees have tried the new Slackbot, with 80% of those users continuing to use it regularly. Internal satisfaction rates reached 96% — the highest for any AI feature Slack has shipped. Employees report saving between two and 20 hours per week.

The adoption happened largely organically. "I think it was about five days, and a Canvas was developed by our employees called 'The Most Stealable Slackbot Prompts,'" Gavin said. "People just started adding to it organically. I think it's up to 250-plus prompts that are in this Canvas right now."

Kate Crotty, a principal UX researcher at Salesforce, found that 73% of internal adoption was driven by social sharing rather than top-down mandates. "Everybody is there to help each other learn and communicate hacks," she said.

How Slackbot transforms scattered enterprise data into executive-ready insights

During a product demonstration, Amy Bauer, Slack's product experience designer, showed how Slackbot can synthesize information across multiple sources. In one example, she asked Slackbot to analyze customer feedback from a pilot program, upload an image of a usage dashboard, and have Slackbot correlate the qualitative and quantitative data.

"This is where Slackbot really earns its keep for me," Bauer explained. "What it's doing is not just simply reading the image — it's actually looking at the image and comparing it to the insight it just generated for me."

Slackbot can then query Salesforce to find enterprise accounts with open deals that might be good candidates for early access, creating what Bauer called "a really great justification and plan to move forward." Finally, it can synthesize all that information into a Canvas — Slack's collaborative document format — and find calendar availability among stakeholders to schedule a review meeting.

"Up until this point, we have been working in a one-to-one capacity with Slackbot," Bauer said. "But one of the benefits that I can do now is take this insight and have it generate this into a Canvas, a shared workspace where I can iterate on it, refine it with Slackbot, or share it out with my team."

Rob Seaman, Slack's chief product officer, said the Canvas creation demonstrates where the product is heading: "This is making a tool call internally to Slack Canvas to actually write, effectively, a shared document. But it signals where we're going with Slackbot — we're eventually going to be adding in additional third-party tool calls."

MrBeast's company became a Slackbot guinea pig—and employees say they're saving 90 minutes a day

Among Salesforce's pilot customers is Beast Industries, the parent company of YouTube star MrBeast. Luis Madrigal, the company's chief information officer, joined the launch announcement to describe his experience.

"As somebody who has rolled out enterprise technologies for over two decades now, this was practically one of the easiest," Madrigal …

Konten dipersingkat otomatis.

🔗 Sumber: venturebeat.com

📌 MAROKO133 Hot ai: US Army gets first Black Hawk helicopter that can fly without

The U.S. Army received its first Black Hawk helicopter capable of flying with or without a pilot.

The delivery took place on March 20, 2026, marking a shift toward safer operations in high-risk combat zones where traditional crewed aircraft face increasing threats.

The new aircraft, called the H-60Mx, will now enter an intensive testing phase led by the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. Officials say the goal is to validate seamless transitions between crewed, optionally piloted, and fully autonomous flight modes.

A new phase in autonomous military aviation

The H-60Mx is designed to reduce risk to pilots while maintaining mission effectiveness. It can operate with onboard crew, be remotely controlled from the ground, or fly entirely on its own depending on mission needs.

“The Army now has a new tool that furthers its vision laid out in the Army Transformation Initiative to mature and qualify pilot-supported autonomy,” Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky said in the release.

“This capability will enhance mission effectiveness and survivability for warfighters today and lay the groundwork for tomorrow’s networked systems.”

The aircraft will be tested across a range of demanding scenarios in 2026. These include autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and coordinated missions with both crewed and uncrewed systems. Engineers will also evaluate performance in contested environments where electronic interference could disrupt communications.

Built on years of DARPA research

The H-60Mx is the result of more than a decade of development. It traces its origins to the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program, which aimed to simplify flight operations through advanced automation.

Initially developed as a modular kit, the system was designed to retrofit existing helicopters. Over time, it evolved into a fully capable autonomy solution after extensive testing on both military and commercial aircraft.

Sikorsky played a key role in this progress by developing the MATRIX autonomy software. This system acts as a digital co-pilot, managing the entire flight process from takeoff to landing.

“After years of successful demonstrations on both commercial and military aircraft, the technology has matured from a developmental concept into a robust and reliable system ready for formal military evaluation,” the Army said in its release.

Core features and operational capabilities

The H-60Mx is based on the UH-60M Black Hawk, the Army’s primary utility helicopter. This platform can carry up to 11 fully equipped troops or transport external loads exceeding 8,800 pounds.

At the center of the upgrade is an advanced autonomy mission manager. It enables independent missions such as logistics resupply, casualty evacuation, and reconnaissance in high-threat areas.

Another major change is the shift to a fly-by-wire control system. This replaces traditional mechanical controls, improving stability and enabling precise automated maneuvers. It also reduces pilot workload, allowing crews to focus more on mission decisions.

The system features an open architecture, making it easier to integrate new sensors, software, and AI-driven tools over time. This ensures the aircraft can adapt to future mission requirements without major redesigns.

Testing ground for future fleet-wide upgrades

The H-60Mx will serve as the main test platform for the Army’s Strategic Autonomy Flight Enabler program. This initiative aims to create a universal autonomy kit that can be deployed across the entire Black Hawk fleet.

If successful, the technology could transform how the Army uses helicopters in combat. Autonomous aircraft could maintain supply lines, evacuate casualties, and support troops in areas too dangerous for human crews.

The Army is also exploring broader applications, including domestic missions like wildfire response. These efforts highlight how military autonomy programs could deliver benefits beyond the battlefield.

Separately, Sikorsky has introduced another variant known as the UHawk, a fully unmanned version of the Black Hawk that removes the cockpit entirely. Unlike the H-60Mx, it is designed from the ground up for autonomous-only operations.

With the H-60Mx now entering formal evaluation, the Army is moving closer to integrating autonomous systems into everyday operations.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com