Add an AI employee

Give an AI employee a name, a photo, an email address and a Slack account, so Summer AI posts as that person.

An AI employee is a named support person on your team, such as Maya Bennett. Each AI employee has a name, a photo, an email address and a Slack account in your workspace. Summer AI's agents post approved messages as the AI employee, so your vendors and partners see a person, not an app.

Owners and admins manage AI employees in Settings → AI Employees. Everyone in your company can read AI employee mail in AI Employees in the workspace sidebar.

Settings → AI Employees starts with Set up an AI employee in Slack, a checklist that shows which steps are done and gives a button for the next one. It checks again each time you open the page.

Summer AI gives your company one AI employee from the suggested names, with a @gosummer.ai address and a photo. Your website chat uses it by default. You can rename it, change its photo, add more, or choose a different name for the chat in Customer messenger.

Open Settings → AI Employees and select Add an AI employee.
Choose the email address:
- New @gosummer.ai address. Summer AI makes first.last@gosummer.ai for the name you pick, and its mail shows in Summer AI. This is the simplest choice.
- Our own address. Type an address you already have, such as support@yourcompany.com or a new one you made in Google Workspace. Summer AI never reads that mailbox, so you open the Slack invitation from it yourself. Use this when your Slack uses single sign-on.
Choose a name and photo from the suggestions, or select Type a name. With your own address, the suggested name and photo still apply; only the email changes. A Summer AI address is unique and never gets a number added.
To use your own photo, select Change photo and upload a PNG, JPEG or WebP file of 2 MB or less. A square photo works best.
Select Add.

To change the name or photo later, select Edit next to the AI employee. The email address stays the same, so mail keeps arriving. For an AI employee connected to Slack, Summer AI also updates the Slack name and an uploaded photo. Some Slack workspaces do not let members change their names; then change it in Slack or ask your Slack admin. A photo link is not copied to Slack; upload the photo instead.

Put the AI employee in Slack

First, connect Slack so Summer AI is in your workspace. Then:

Invite the AI employee. In Slack, select your workspace name at the top left, then Invite people. Paste the AI employee's email address, keep Member (not Guest) and select Send. Only Slack admins can invite. The AI employee uses one seat in your Slack plan. See Slack's guide to inviting members.
Join as the AI employee. In Settings → AI Employees, the setup checklist shows the invitation. Right-click the invitation link and choose Open link in incognito window, so you do not sign out of your own Slack account. Join with the AI employee's name. If Slack sends a code, it arrives in the same inbox.
Connect the account. In Summer AI, select Copy link to connect Slack next to the AI employee. Paste the link in that same incognito window and select Continue to Slack. Slack asks you to allow Summer AI to read, post and update the profile as that person. Select Allow. You don't sign in to Summer AI in that window. The link works once, for 15 minutes, so treat it like a password. Summer AI then sets the AI employee's Slack name and photo.

The AI employee now shows Slack: your workspace in Summer AI. With your own address, open the invitation from that mailbox in step 2.

Already have a Slack account for that address? If support@yourcompany.com is already a member of your Slack workspace, skip the invitation. Sign in to Slack as that account in an incognito window and do step 3. The AI employee then posts with that Slack account, with the AI employee's name and photo.

If your Slack uses single sign-on

When the invitation opens a Google or Okta sign-in page instead of a Slack form, your Slack uses single sign-on (SSO). Then the AI employee must be a user in that sign-in system, like a new hire. A @gosummer.ai address is not in your system, so use Our own address.

Google Workspace:

In the Google Admin console, open Directory → Users and select Add new user. Enter the AI employee's name and an address such as maya.bennett@yourcompany.com, and set a password. The user takes one Google Workspace license. You can also use an existing user, such as support@yourcompany.com. A Google group cannot sign in, so it does not work.
In Summer AI, add the AI employee with Our own address and that address.
In Slack, invite that address as a member.
In an incognito window, sign in to Gmail as the AI employee, open the Slack invitation and choose Sign in with Google.
In the same window, open Settings → AI Employees and select Connect Slack.

Okta or another sign-in system: create a user for the AI employee, assign it the Slack app, then do steps 2 to 5 with that account.

Slack Workspace Owners can make SSO optional for some accounts, but that changes your company's security settings. Adding a user is the safer choice.

What the AI employee does

Reads the channels and messages that the AI employee's Slack account can see.
Posts messages that a person approved in Summer AI. Each post keeps its Slack receipt.
Joins public channels when Summer AI needs to post there. Ask a member to add the AI employee to a private channel.

The AI employee talks like a person on your team. If someone sincerely asks whether they are talking to an AI, the AI employee says so and keeps helping.

Post approved vendor replies as the AI employee

Open Settings → Integrations → Slack and find Who posts approved replies. Choose the AI employee and save.

From then on, when a person approves a reply in a vendor Slack thread, Summer AI posts it from the AI employee's own Slack account. It has the AI employee's name and photo and no app label. The approval shows who will post before anyone approves it.

The AI employee must be connected to Slack. If not, approvals are blocked until you connect the AI employee or choose the Summer Ellis app. Summer AI never switches to the app without telling you.
The AI employee must be in the channel. In a public channel, Summer AI joins it for the AI employee, or select Add in the setup checklist. For a private channel or a channel shared with another company, someone in the channel types /invite @Name in Slack.
Agent replies must be allowed in the channel. Select Allow agent replies in the setup checklist. The Summer AI app does not need to be in the channel, because the AI employee posts from its own account.
Choose Summer Ellis app to go back to app replies, or The person who approves to post each reply from the approver's own Slack account. See Choose who Summer is in Slack.

Read Slack as the AI employee

In Settings → Integrations → Slack, under Who Summer reads Slack as, choose the AI employee and save. Summer AI then reads the selected channels the AI employee is in, with the AI employee's own Slack account. Add the AI employee to each vendor channel first. If the AI employee is disconnected, Summer AI stops reading Slack until you reconnect it or choose another reader.

Who can DM the AI employee

People on your team can send the AI employee a direct message in Slack. Summer AI reads only DMs from people you add to its list.

Open Settings → AI Employees and select Who can DM next to the AI employee. The AI employee must be connected to Slack.
Choose the person and select Add. The list has your team and the vendor contacts Summer has seen in your selected channels. For anyone else, choose Someone else and enter their Slack member ID: in Slack, open their profile, select ⋮ and choose Copy member ID.

Each DM from a person on the list opens a case in Summer AI. An agent looks into it and drafts a reply. A person approves the exact reply, then the AI employee sends it in the DM. Select Remove to stop Summer AI reading and replying in that DM. DMs from anyone else are not saved.

Disconnect or retire an AI employee

Disconnect Slack deletes the saved Slack access. The Slack account stays in your workspace until your Slack admin removes it.
Retire stops Summer AI from using the AI employee and stops keeping its mail. The address is never given to anyone else.

For access errors, see Troubleshooting.