OpenAI virtually runs on Slack, having used it to replace email, but its CEO believes that the messaging platform creates a lot of “fake work”.
In candid remarks that could resonate with knowledge workers everywhere, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI—the company behind ChatGPT and at the forefront of the AI revolution—has voiced frustrations with the very tools that power modern office communication. His comments offer a rare glimpse into how even the most tech-savvy leaders grapple with productivity tools, and hint at a fundamental reimagining of workplace software driven by AI agents.
“There are positives about Slack, but there’s also (downsides). I dread the first hour of the morning, last hour before I go to bed where I’m just dealing with this explosion of Slack and I think it does create a lot of fake work,” Altman said. The phrase “fake work” is particularly striking—suggesting that much of the activity on platforms like Slack gives the appearance of productivity without necessarily moving meaningful work forward.
Altman didn’t stop at criticism. He outlined a vision for what could replace today’s productivity suite: “I suspect there is something new to build that is going to replace a lot of the current sort of office productivity suite, whatever you think of like docs, slides, email, Slack, whatever. That will be sort of the AI-driven version of all of these things.”
But this isn’t about the superficial AI integrations we’ve seen so far. Altman was explicit about what he doesn’t want: “Not where you accidentally click the wrong place and it tries to write a whole document for you or summarize some thread or whatever.” Instead, he envisions something far more fundamental: “The actual version of like, you are trusting your AI agent and my AI agent to work most stuff out and escalate to us when necessary.”
He concluded with cautious optimism: “I think there is probably finally a good solution for someone to make within reach.”
Altman’s vision represents a paradigm shift from tools that demand constant human attention to AI agents that handle routine coordination autonomously, only surfacing matters that truly require human judgment. This comes at a moment when “Slack fatigue” has become a recognized phenomenon in knowledge work, with workers reporting feeling overwhelmed by constant notifications and the pressure to respond immediately. Microsoft, Salesforce (which owns Slack), and Google have all been racing to integrate AI capabilities into their productivity suites, but Altman’s comments suggest these efforts may be missing the mark—adding AI features to fundamentally unchanged paradigms rather than reimagining how work gets done.
The irony isn’t lost that the CEO of the company best positioned to build such AI-agent-driven productivity tools is the one articulating the need for them. Whether OpenAI itself ventures into this space or inspires others to do so, Altman’s comments signal that the era of today’s productivity software may be reaching its expiration date.