Salesforce changes Slack API terms to block bulk data access for LLMs

Salesforce’s Slack platform has changed its API terms of service to stop organizations from using Large Language Models (LLMs) to ingest the platform’s data as part of its efforts to implement better enterprise data discovery and search.

While it sounds like a largely technical tweak, it could nevertheless have profound implications for a raft of internal and third-party AI apps that organizations have started using to tame data sprawl.

The new policy was outlined under the new heading Data usage in the latest terms of service, published on May 29. It prohibits the bulk export of Slack data via the API, and explicitly states that data accessed via Slack APIs can no longer be used to train LLMs. Instead, organizations will have to rely on the company’s new Real-Time Search API, which offers search only from within Slack itself.