Slack – Natpoint

Anthropic has unveiled Claude Tag, a new AI-powered assistant designed to work as a shared digital teammate inside Slack, marking a significant move beyond chatbots that simply answer questions towards AI systems that can collaborate with entire teams and complete work independently.

What Is Claude Tag?

Claude Tag is Anthropic’s latest workplace AI tool, built on its Opus 4.8 model and designed to operate directly within Slack, one of the world’s most widely used business collaboration platforms.

Rather than opening a separate AI chatbot or application, users simply tag “@Claude” within a Slack conversation and assign it a task. Claude then plans how to complete the work, carries it out using the tools and information it has been authorised to access, and posts the finished results back into the conversation.

Anthropic describes it as “the beginning of an evolution of Claude Code”, adding that “tagging @Claude is now one of the main ways we get things done at Anthropic.”

The company says around 65 per cent of its own product team’s code is now created using its internal version of Claude Tag.

How It Works

While using Claude Tag is designed to be simple, it introduces several capabilities that distinguish it from traditional AI assistants.

For example, instead of responding only to one individual, Claude exists as a shared participant within each Slack channel. This means that anyone in that channel can see what it is working on, ask follow-up questions or continue conversations started by colleagues.

Anthropic says this makes interacting with Claude “much more like interacting collaboratively with a teammate” than using a conventional chatbot.

The system is also designed to work asynchronously. In other words, rather than waiting while an AI generates a response, users can delegate work and continue with other tasks while Claude carries out the request, whether that takes minutes, hours or even days.

According to Anthropic, Claude can “schedule tasks for itself, pursuing a project autonomously over hours or days”, allowing teams to hand over longer-running work without constant supervision.

Learning As It Goes

One of Claude Tag’s most significant features seems to be its ability to build context over time.

For example, as it participates in authorised Slack channels, it gradually develops an understanding of projects, terminology and ongoing work. That means users don’t need to explain the same background information every time they ask for assistance.

Where administrators permit it, Claude can also learn from connected business systems and other authorised Slack channels, allowing it to combine information from multiple sources before responding.

Importantly, Anthropic says Claude does not access private Slack channels unless permission has been granted, and memories remain isolated between different business functions.

The company explains that administrators effectively create separate Claude identities for different departments, meaning “a model set up for sales work won’t pass on memories to one set up for engineering; nor will it give engineers access to any sales data or tools.”

Taking A More Active Role

Claude Tag also introduces what Anthropic describes as “ambient” behaviour.

Instead of waiting to be prompted, Claude can proactively notify users about developments it believes may be relevant, highlight unresolved issues, identify stalled discussions or follow up on tasks that have not been completed. Claude Tag is really an example of how AI is becoming more capable of working independently.

Until recently, most AI systems remained passive, responding only when someone asked a question. Increasingly, developers are building AI agents that monitor ongoing work, make decisions about priorities and carry out delegated tasks with much less human intervention.

For Anthropic, Slack is really just the first step. The company says it ultimately wants teams to be able to tag Claude “in the many other places they work”.

Security And Control

Given the amount of potentially sensitive business information involved, Anthropic has placed considerable emphasis on security.

System administrators decide exactly which channels, tools and data Claude can access, while organisations can also set spending limits for AI usage and review detailed logs showing every task the assistant has performed.

That level of oversight is likely to be particularly important as organisations become more comfortable allowing AI systems to work with confidential business information.

More Than Just A Productivity Feature

Claude Tag is more than another workplace productivity feature. Many organisations already use AI to generate text, write software, analyse documents or answer questions. Anthropic’s latest development seems to give us a look at the next stage of enterprise AI may involve organisations treating AI as an active participant in team workflows rather than simply another application employees open when they need assistance.

The distinction may seem subtle, but it has significant implications. Instead of individuals repeatedly consulting AI, teams may increasingly delegate routine work to AI colleagues that understand ongoing projects, remember previous discussions and continue working independently between conversations.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, Claude Tag provides another indication that enterprise AI is moving rapidly beyond standalone chatbots.

Many organisations are still experimenting with AI as a productivity tool. Anthropic’s vision points towards something more ambitious, where AI becomes embedded within everyday collaboration, capable of handling routine tasks, maintaining organisational knowledge and working alongside employees over extended periods.

That has the potential to improve productivity, reduce repetitive work and accelerate decision-making. However, it also raises important questions around governance, access controls, oversight and trust. Organisations will need clear policies governing what information AI can access, what decisions it can make and how its work should be reviewed.

Whether Claude Tag itself becomes widely adopted remains to be seen. However, the broader direction is becoming increasingly clear. AI is evolving from a tool that people occasionally consult into a digital colleague that participates in everyday work, and that represents a significant change in how many organisations are likely to operate in the years ahead.

Microsoft’s announcement that it will sell its chat and video app Teams separately from its Office product globally is likely to cause considerable headaches for IT departments and managed service providers.

Why Unbundle?

Teams is to be unbundled and sold separately globally (it’s been unbundled in the EU since last October) in response to an antitrust lawsuit and to avert the possible associated fine.

An antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft over its bundling of Teams with its Office suite in the EU was initiated based on a complaint from competitor Slack Technologies in 2020. Teams was originally bundled with Office 365 as a replacement for Skype back in 2017 and became popular during the pandemic.

However, rival Slack (now owned by Salesforce) alleged that Microsoft was illegally tying its Teams application to its dominant Office productivity suites, thereby leveraging its market dominance to stifle competition unfairly.

The European Commission said at the time: “Microsoft may grant Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers the choice on whether or not to include access to that product when they subscribe to their productivity suites.”

This led to The European Commission investigating Microsoft over its amalgamation of Office and Teams since 2020 and then to Microsoft separating Teams for Office 365 In October last year in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

Pressure

Continued pressure from the regulator and the desire to (understandably) avoid a fine that could potentially be up to 10 per cent of its global revenue has now led Microsoft to announce that it will now be unbundling Teams and selling it separately, globally.

How Much?

Starting from April 1, customers can either continue with their current licensing deal, renew, update or switch to the new offers. Unbundled Teams will be available for new customers as a standalone app for $5.25, whereas Office packages without Teams will range between $7.75 and $54.75.

It’s worth noting that these figures may vary by country and currency and Microsoft hasn’t yet disclosed prices for current packaged products.

Trouble For MSPs

Unfortunately, although the move may be good news for Microsoft’s rivals, it’s not a welcome announcement from the perspective of the many managed service providers (MSPs) who are resellers of Microsoft’s packages and products. Indeed, for MSPs it is likely to mean headaches in several key areas, such as:

– Service delivery and integration. Unbundling may disrupt how MSPs bundle services, demanding changes in delivery models due to the deep integration of Teams with Office applications.

– Billing and subscription management Separate billing for Teams and Office could complicate financial operations, requiring more administrative effort to manage distinct subscriptions and compliance.

– Training and support. A standalone Teams setup might increase support queries and necessitate updated training materials, placing additional demands on MSP resources.

– Client satisfaction and retention. Crucially, the change could confuse clients who are accustomed to (and expect) the convenience of integrated packages, potentially affecting their satisfaction and loyalty (during the adjustment phase), lowering the barriers to exit from their supplier.

– Market competition. Facing competitors offering more cohesive solutions, MSPs may need to reevaluate their offerings and pricing to stay competitive.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This is not an unexpected development, given Microsoft’s unbundling of Teams in the EU last October, continued regulator and competitor pressure, and the threat of a massive fine. It’s good news for Microsoft’s competitors like Slack, however, for Microsoft, some say that even this concession and change in its product strategy may not be enough to avoid a fine.

The complications and unsettling effects it could have on UK business customers could also cause some considerable problems for the UK’s many MSPs. For example, they may find themselves having to navigate a more complex service landscape, facing challenges in service integration, billing management, and customer support. This could mean that MSPs will have to now monitor the impacts carefully and adjust their strategies to minimise the likely negative effects on their business and client relationships.

This could mean having to adapt current offerings and trying their best to ensure seamless integration and support for both Teams and Office applications independently – an extra challenge in an already difficult market.

Tag: Slack

Tech News : Anthropic Introduces AI Teammate For Slack