IBM, Slack team up to build smarter data- crunching chatbots

New York

IBM is teaming up with Slack Technologies Inc to make it easier for companies to build custom chatbots into the startup's workplace messaging systems, the latest move by Big Blue to add more diverse business cases for its Watson artificial intelligence technology.

The two companies will release a developer toolkit that includes Watson technologies and can integrate easily into Slack, they said in a statement on Wednesday. International Business Machines Corp will also build a chatbot - a conversation-based application - that will help IT departments identify and resolve issues without having to leave the Slack platform.