Comparing the 4 Best Slack Summary AI Tools

Keeping people on the same page is tricky.

And Brooks’ Law means that, as teams grow, the communication problem grows disproportionately. The communication overheads get steeper and steeper.

Collaboration and communication are two of the biggest time sinks in most businesses.

But today, it’s possible to dramatically decrease the time we sink into simply staying afloat with intelligent tools and artificial intelligence (AI).

There are several Slack summary apps on the Slack App Directory.

I’m going to review four of the very best Slack summarisation tools designed to help your teams cut through the noise of today's ubiquitous digital chatter.

TLDR

A simple tool for the 'wall of text' in Slack.

TLDR is the most simple summariser on this list. It harnesses AI and machine learning to summarise long Slack messages in Slack channels and threads into brief, digestible summaries with a simple slash command. It doesn’t have long-term memory, deep context or tool integration, but if you need a simple tool, it can help you swiftly absorb the main ideas in long threads without getting bogged down in a sea of words.

My View: TLDR is best suited for businesses and teams across industries that lean heavily on Slack for internal communication. Its scope is solely confined to Slack, so its utility may be limited for teams using a broader mix of communication platforms.

Add TLDR to Slack

Stepsize AI

Stepsize AI is an AI companion for projects. I’m working on this one with my team at Stepsize. It’s perfect for people working in software – it works hand in hand with Slack, Jira, and GitHub to deliver rich, personalised updates covering key activity, opportunities and risks.

Stepsize AI is strong because, unlike other summarisation tools, it isn’t just a dumb layer between an LLM (large language model) and your data – it uses an Operational Intelligence Engine – a complex architecture which is observing and reflecting on what happens and builds a data graph which can be queried in any way you like. By doing so, it develops a deep understanding of the context of your projects and keep in-person and remote team members on the same page.

It grows a “memory” of your projects, meaning it can make richly contextual summaries, actionable suggestions and precise answers to pressing questions.

My View: Stepsize AI is ideal for people working in software and product settings, and for project managers. Its strength lies in its ability to deeply “remember” what happens, and integrate with popular platforms like Slack, Jira, and GitHub. I might be biased, but I think this one is the game-changer for those groups.

Try Stepsize AI

theGist

theGist is a Slack application for managing Slack and Gmail overloads by serving personalised, digestible summaries within Slack.

Designed to declutter your digital workspace, theGist uses AI to cluster and summarise emails, allowing for quick inbox clearance directly from Slack. This eliminates constant context switching and promotes efficiency.

My View: theGist is a shallower tool than others in terms of context, memory and underlying architecture, but it might be helpful for teams relying heavily on email for their communications.

Learn about theGist

SummarizeBot

SummarizeBot does something a little different – rather than summarising Slack threads, it summarises things like links – and can do it from Slack. It is an AI and Blockchain-powered bot able to distil large volumes of data across various formats - weblinks, documents, images, and audio - into easy-to-grasp summaries.

It targets busy professionals, researchers, or anyone dealing with large quantities of information. SummarizeBot can restructure unstructured data into a manageable, straightforward format, catering to over 100 languages and virtually any public link.

My View: SummarizeBot is a powerful ally for teams grappling with diverse data types, offering summarisation and data extraction.

Add SummarizeBot to Slack

Navigating the noise

The weight of communication slows teams down. AI-powered tools such as TLDR, theGist, SummarizeBot, and CollabGPT help summarize Slack and tackle the problem.

Each tool has its unique strength. TLDR shines in Slack-focused environments for more straightforward use cases where context is less important. theGist provides a practical solution for email-heavy teams, while SummarizeBot helps digest multimedia. 

I might be biased, but where I think Stepsize AI stands out is in its ability to grow with your project, becoming an integral part of your team. Its sophisticated AI structure understands the context of your work and offers richly contextual summaries, actionable suggestions, and precise answers. Its memory keeps track of your project's history, providing an additional layer of depth to its contributions.

We’re building Stepsize AI as a real game-changer for teams that create and build software.

I invite you to explore Stepsize AI and experience the difference it can make for your team here.