Niles is a Slack bot that learns your team’s questions and answers them so you don’t have to

Niles: Your Team's AI-Powered Knowledge Assistant on Slack

Most chat bots are perceived as unintelligent, often requiring rigid command structures for simple tasks. However, the concept of AI assistants offers a more sophisticated approach, working in the background to glean information and provide proactive support. Niles, a company from Y Combinator's Winter 2017 batch, embodies this assistant-like philosophy, aiming to serve as a company's internal knowledge base directly within Slack.

The Core Problem Niles Solves

Companies often struggle with maintaining an effective internal wiki or knowledge-sharing system. Information gets lost, is difficult to find, or is simply not updated. This leads to team members repeatedly asking the same questions, consuming valuable time and hindering productivity. Niles addresses this by acting as a smart, conversational interface for a company's collective knowledge.

How Niles Works

Question Answering: Any user in a Slack room where Niles is present can @mention Niles with a question. If Niles has the answer stored, it will provide it directly.
Learning from the Team: If Niles doesn't know the answer, it prompts the team for help. When a team member provides an answer, Niles learns and stores it for future reference. This collaborative learning process builds a comprehensive knowledge base over time.
Keeping Information Current: Niles allows users to flag answers that are no longer correct. It can then identify the most likely source for an updated answer (e.g., the person who answered last time) and prompt them for revisions.
Natural Language Processing: A key focus for Niles is its ability to understand questions phrased in natural language, moving beyond rigid command structures. This allows for more intuitive interaction and broader applicability.

Key Features and Integrations

Seamless Slack Integration: Most interactions, including asking questions, updating answers, and flagging content, occur directly within Slack, minimizing the need for external interfaces.
Google Drive Integration: Niles can connect to Google Drive via OAuth, allowing it to access and answer questions based on data within spreadsheets and documents. For example, a user could ask, "@Niles How much did we sell in February?" if Niles is connected to the relevant sales spreadsheet.
Salesforce Integration: While currently requiring more assistance from the Niles support team to set up, integration with Salesforce is also possible, enabling access to CRM data.

Privacy and Security Considerations

Niles acknowledges the inherent privacy concerns associated with AI assistants that process conversational data. The team emphasizes the following:

Data Logging: Niles only logs conversations in rooms where it is explicitly added as a member. It does not log direct messages or rooms it's not invited to.
Data Storage: Information is stored on encrypted AWS instances, with each team's data siloed individually.
Encryption: Data is encrypted both in transit and at rest.
Security Measures: The Niles team states they take significant care to ensure data is stored securely while enabling the bot's functionality.

While the concept requires a degree of trust, the Niles team is transparent about their data handling practices when asked.

The Value Proposition

For individuals who have experienced the frustration of answering the same questions repeatedly or building internal knowledge systems that go unused, Niles offers a compelling solution. By leveraging AI and natural language processing within a familiar platform like Slack, Niles aims to significantly improve team efficiency, knowledge accessibility, and overall productivity.

Niles Slack Bot Interface

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