Salesforce Blocks AI Rivals from Slack Data: Protecting Privacy or Just Cornering the Market?

Oh Look, Salesforce Is Saving Us from Ourselves 🙄

Salesforce just pulled the plug on third-party AI tools accessing Slack data.

They’re not calling it a data lockdown. They’re calling it “responsible AI.”

In a move that’s got more spin than a Peloton class, they updated Slack’s terms of service to block rivals like Glean from indexing or storing Slack messages through API.

And of course—it’s all in the name of protecting customer data.

Sure. And my VPN is protecting me from baking cookies wrong.

The Real Story: Owning the AI Stack 🎯

Let’s drop the corporate poetry. This isn’t about compliance. It’s about control.

Salesforce doesn’t just want to manage your CRM. Or your customer journey. Or your productivity suite.

They want to own the entire AI loop:

• The data (Slack)
• The platform (Salesforce AI Cloud)
• The UX (Slack interface)
• The insights (coming soon… for an extra fee!)

If you plug Glean, Writer, or any non-Salesforce AI into Slack, they lose visibility—and money. So they banned it.

In corporate speak: “We’re protecting you.” In real speak: “We don’t want you using someone else’s AI that’s better than ours.”

The Problem: Your Data, Their Rules 🔒

Let’s be crystal clear: Salesforce is saying you can’t use your own messages, in your own workspace, with your preferred AI tooling—because it makes them uncomfortable.

Data sovereignty? Apparently not if it interferes with Salesforce’s Q3 roadmap.

Here’s what this move does:

• Kills interoperability
• Stifles innovation
• Creates deeper vendor lock-in
• Makes your IT and AI teams way less effective

You paid for Slack. You wrote the messages. But guess what? You can’t use that data how you want. Because it’s behind Salesforce’s velvet rope.

Salesforce’s Defense (Because We’re Fair 🧑⚖️)

To be fair, they have a few good points:

• Third-party AIs can mishandle sensitive Slack data.
• Enterprises want stronger privacy guarantees.
• Not all AI vendors are equally secure.

But here’s the thing: You don’t need a nuclear option to solve those problems. You need smart policies, permissions, and governance—not a blanket API ban that handcuffs customers.

And if Salesforce can’t compete with other AIs… maybe they should build better tools?

What You Should Be Asking 👇

• If this is about “security,” why is their AI still allowed full access?
• Why can’t you opt in to trusted third-party tools?
• Why is “customer control” always the first thing to go?
• Who gets to decide which AI is safe enough—your security team, or Marc Benioff?

What Likeable Would Do Differently

We’re not in the business of gatekeeping your data. We’re in the business of making AI useful, flexible, and enterprise-safe.

Here’s how we’d approach this:

• Bring Your Own AI: You pick the tools. We wrap them with governance.
• Slack-friendly agents: Modular agents that play nice with Slack and your data standards.
• Audit everything: Track who accesses what and when—without locking you into one vendor.
• Exit strategy included: Data architecture built to port—not imprison.

Final Word

Salesforce wants to make your AI future look like your CRM past: locked, licensed, and limited.

They’re not afraid of rogue bots. They’re afraid of better bots.

You deserve AI that plays well with others—and lets you make the decisions.

Don’t let your data become someone else’s moat.

Likeable.

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