Slack has become mission control for many businesses, for internal and customer communications and discussions, about business strategy, HR issues, even about product/ code. And with the rise of AI integrations like Slack AI and other GPT powered apps, your team may well be using generative AI tools inside Slack without realising the implications.
Have you reviewed how your team’s AI tools are configured in Slack – and what they’re allowed to access?
If not, here’s why you should.
1. Slack is full of sensitive/ confidential data
Slack isn’t just chat, it’s often a very candid, unfiltered place. That makes it especially risky when generative AI tools are added into the mix.
AI tools in Slack may be able to access:
- sensitive discussions about staff performance
- information about financial performance, strategy, etc
- sensitive legal documents / legal advice
- personal data/ personally identifiable information
Action:
- Review what data Slack AI or third-party GPT tools can ‘see’.
- Check if AI summarisation or question-answering features are enabled across all channels – including private or confidential ones.
- Confirm whether data is stored, shared, or used to train models (varies by vendor and plan).
2. You may be using AI/ GPTs without knowing it
Even if you haven’t formally rolled out ‘AI in Slack’, team members might have connected third-party ChatGPT apps or browser-based GPT bots. These can often access more data than you expect – and rarely come with proper oversight/ review.
Action:
- Audit your Slack app directory: Who’s installed what?
- Consider disabling or restricting unvetted GPT-powered Slack apps via admin settings.
3. Settings matter – a lot
Slack AI (and third-party GPT tools) often allow you to configure access scopes, channel permissions, and summarisation preferences. But these defaults may not be aligned with your privacy obligations or business needs.
Action:
- Ensure that summaries and AI-generated answers are not being created from confidential or restricted channels.
- Set rules around where and how AI tools can be used (e.g. internal ops vs. client-facing channels).
4. AI output still needs human oversight
Even when used inside Slack, AI/GPT tools can hallucinate or generate inaccurate responses. If these outputs are being used to make decisions or influence people or workstreams, there’s a reputational and legal risk.
Action:
- Create basic internal guardrails: AI can suggest or summarise, but not replace human review.
Final Thought
AI in Slack can be a huge time-saver, but only if it’s used responsibly. With sensitive data often flowing freely in Slack, adding GPT-powered tools without oversight is like handing a megaphone to your intern.
So it’s important to set some time aside to health-check your Slack AI settings and integrations and to set some internal usage guidelines.
If you need help reviewing those tools, drafting internal AI usage guidelines, etc please get in touch.
