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jacobgoldtoday at 6:25 PM6 repliesview on HN

Slack exists largely because IRC was insufficient. It didn't natively support channel history, search, etc.

For AI agents to flourish, Slack has to either truly open its network with a protocol or eventually be replaced.

I'd like to see Slack embrace an AT protocol-based chat system, which then apps like Buzz could implement. Then users could log in with domain handles like @yourname.com, and agents could use handles like @agent1.yourname.com, all under their complete control.


Replies

_verandaguytoday at 6:30 PM

Why is it Slack's responsibility to help agents flourish?

I ask about Slack here because it's pertinent, but I've both seen and experienced firsthand this inversion across the industry where we must adapt our workflows for AI.

Isn't a tool supposed to work for you, not the other around?

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jhbruhntoday at 6:27 PM

Just like Matrix and it's bot/puppet accounts.

noodlescbtoday at 6:52 PM

I originally was passionate about Slack simply because it was "IRC but with modern quality of life improvements". Ever since they got fucked by MSFT and sold out to Salesforce, it's basically been dead in the water and the only changes have largely made it worse.

verdvermtoday at 6:50 PM

ATProto's tbd permission system is insufficient for the granularity needed in enterprise. Many of those features needed (like groups) will have to be built in an app view and by proxy be centralized. ACLs are two generations in the past of IAM history

Chat is also not a great modality for the PDS/ATP, Roomy learned this and is building a dedicated protocol and bridge.

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ryanmerkettoday at 7:36 PM

man i love IRC, and you're 100% right

charcircuittoday at 6:47 PM

Slack already has an API for building bots. It doesn't need to be open.

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