Meta ditches Google Chat for Slack, citing AI agents

Meta ↗ 2.47% is migrating its internal communications from Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.53% Chat to Slack, a move driven by the messaging platform's stronger support for AI agents. The switch, announced in an internal memo this week by Meta's AI chief Alexandr Wang, marks a high-profile win for Slack owner Salesforce ↘ 0.46% and a notable setback for Google's workplace tools.

'The Strongest Platform Available Today for Agents'

"Slack is the strongest platform available today for agents, which is why we're deciding to make the switch," Wang wrote in the memo, first reported by Business Insider. He pointed to Slack's "rich conversational interface for agents, mature developer tooling and strong 3P integrations" as key factors in the decision.businessinsider

Wang acknowledged that not every Meta employee is currently building AI agents but argued that "everyone at the company will benefit from a robust and useful agent ecosystem." According to The Information, Wang went further, telling staff that leadership "made the wrong decision" in initially choosing Google Chat over Slack.theinformation+1

The migration comes less than a year after Meta moved off its own in-house tool, Workchat, which had been used internally for over a decade. Tech journalist Gergely Orosz noted that Slack announced MCP support in October 2025 with general availability following in February 2026, while Google Chat still only offers a developer preview for MCP.x

A Marquee Win for Salesforce

The deal represents a major endorsement for Salesforce, which acquired Slack for $27.7 billion in 2021 and has since positioned the platform as the hub for AI agent orchestration. Salesforce's stock has faced pressure over the past year amid concerns that AI agents could replace traditional enterprise software, but the company reported strong earnings last week, with shares surging roughly 23% in a single day following an expanded partnership with Anthropic and results showing new annual order growth.aiweekly+1

"This is not the SaaSpocalypse," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said during the earnings release. "We've been hearing about this for the last two quarters, these dire predictions about the end of software, and how the models eat everything, but none of them have come true for us."businessinsider

The Agent Platform Battle

The switch underscores a broader competition among workplace platforms to become the default operating layer for AI agents. Slack has moved aggressively to attract agent developers and enterprise integrations, with companies like Darwinbox announcing new AI-native tools on the Slack Marketplace this week. Meta, Salesforce, and Google all declined to comment on the move.gulftoday+1