Slack can now vibe-code interactive charts and reports inside chats

Your collaborative documents and data dashboards can now live inside your chat, making them accessible without switching applications.

Slack is introducing a new feature called Slackforce Surfaces, which allows users to create interactive charts, reports, dashboards, and other tools directly within chat conversations. Users can describe their needs to Slackbot, which will then use AI to gather information from relevant conversations and connected applications like Google Drive or Salesforce to build these Surfaces. Once created, these Surfaces can be shared and pinned to channels, enabling team members to view, interact with, and comment on them. An example provided shows Slackbot generating an interactive dashboard visualizing AI token usage across different company divisions based on a user's request. This functionality is available to all Slack customers, including free users, with live data capabilities launching in October. The update follows recent enhancements to Slackbot, making it more of an AI assistant for tasks like summarizing information and scheduling meetings.

This move by Slack signals a deeper integration of AI-powered content creation directly into communication platforms, blurring the lines between collaboration tools and data visualization software. By enabling the creation of dynamic reports and dashboards within chats, Slack aims to keep workflows centralized and reduce the need for external applications, potentially impacting how teams share and act upon information in real-time. This feature could set a new standard for in-chat analytics and interactive content.

The broader implication is a push towards "conversational computing" where AI assistants actively build and present information within the flow of communication, rather than just retrieving it. For users, this means a more immediate and integrated way to make sense of data and make decisions collectively. It also suggests a future where complex data tools become accessible to a wider audience through natural language interfaces within familiar applications.