Slack, the collaborative messaging service owned by Salesforce, recently blocked other software publishers from searching, copying, or storing messages exchanged on its platform, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing a public communication.

A Salesforce spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that the company had changed its terms of use, referring to a statement posted on its website on May 29. "At a time when artificial intelligence raises critical issues about customer data management, we are committed to offering AI and data services in a thoughtful and transparent manner," the group said.

In the same statement, Salesforce said it was strengthening safeguards around how data accessible through Slack's APIs can be stored, used, or shared. An API (application programming interface) allows different software programs to exchange data or functions in a standardized way.

Since this update, third-party applications such as Glean can no longer index, copy, or store data retrieved via the Slack API on a long-term basis, according to The Information.

Glean has warned its customers that these changes will now prevent Slack data from being integrated into their search engines or internal knowledge graphs, "compromising your ability to leverage your data with the enterprise AI platform of your choice," according to a message quoted by the media outlet.

This decision comes as artificial intelligence companies are increasingly under scrutiny for how they manage personal and professional data used to train their models.