Australia's Atlassian adds AI features to its teamwork software

By Anna Tong

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Australian business software company Atlassian Corp PLC said on Wednesday it will introduce new artificial intelligence features such as meeting summarization notes and a chatbot trained in delving into a company's knowledge base.

Generative AI, which the tech industry has embraced, has the ability to synthesize large amounts of data and answer complex questions.

Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar said because companies use its software to track and document projects, Atlassian is in a unique position to use AI to help knowledge workers dramatically increase their productivity.

"Because we know teams across their entire life cycle, we can get very good at surfacing the information and tasks that need to get done," Farquhar told Reuters in an interview.

"Their life just gets way more productive rather than spending their day chasing what needs to get done and what they have to read."

Atlassian partnered with OpenAI, the AI startup backed by Microsoft Corp behind the chatbot sensation ChatGPT, to build the product enhancements, including ensuring that its customer data is kept isolated, Farquhar said.

Starting Wednesday, customers can join a waitlist to access the new features, the company said.

Atlassian said the new AI features include the ability to extract action items and decisions from a meeting transcript, and draft Tweets and software testing plans based on product documentation.

The chatbot can resolve questions, such as "How much can I spend on my home office setup?", after tapping the company's knowledge base, it said.

(Reporting by Anna Tong in San Francisco; Editing by Sonali Paul)