OpenAI is set to trial a new approach that will enable business customers to integrate applications like Slack and Google Drive with ChatGPT.
According to a document reviewed by TechCrunch, OpenAI intends to test a feature named ChatGPT Connector. This tool will allow subscribers of ChatGPT Teams to link their workspace’s Google Drive and Slack accounts to ChatGPT, enabling the chatbot to answer queries based on files, presentations, spreadsheets, and Slack conversations from these accounts.
The document states that OpenAI plans to expand the ChatGPT Connector to other platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint and Box.
"This will allow employees using ChatGPT to leverage internal information as easily as they use global knowledge through web searches," the document reads.
The ChatGPT Connector represents OpenAI's latest effort to integrate ChatGPT into the suite of enterprise software tools. While some companies remain cautious about allowing ChatGPT access to sensitive corporate data, others are embracing this technology. The ChatGPT Connector could persuade hesitant executives to reconsider and pose a strong challenge to AI-driven enterprise search platforms like Glean.
The ChatGPT Connector will be rolled out in beta to select ChatGPT Teams users, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o model, which optimizes its responses based on "internal [company] knowledge," according to the document. All users within participating ChatGPT Teams workspaces can access the model via OpenAI's ChatGPT application.
The customized GPT-4o model will search and "read" potentially relevant internal information. To create a search index, OpenAI will synchronize encrypted copies of company files and conversations on ChatGPT's servers, as mentioned in the document.
"Additional pertinent information not directly used by the model can be accessed by clicking the source button at the bottom of each response," the document explains. "When appropriate, the model will respond directly with a list of relevant results."
To reassure customers that ChatGPT won't expose their private data, the document emphasizes that permissions for Slack and Google Drive are "fully respected" and "continuously updated." For instance, the ChatGPT Connector will sync membership of Slack private channels along with Drive file permissions and directory information.
According to the OpenAI document, employees cannot discover content in Google Drive or Slack that they don’t already have access to. Administrators will be able to choose which Slack channels and Google Drive files to synchronize. As a minor drawback, employees may receive "significantly different" responses to identical ChatGPT prompts, OpenAI noted in the document.
The ChatGPT Connector also comes with technical limitations on access.
Images in Google Drive files (e.g., Google Docs, Google Slides, PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and plain text) aren’t supported, and the ChatGPT Connector can only "read"—not analyze—data in Sheets and Excel workbooks. It cannot retrieve private messages or group chats from Slack and will ignore messages from Slack bots, according to the document.
Companies interested in participating in the ChatGPT Connector beta are required to provide OpenAI with 100 documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and/or Slack channel conversations. The document clarifies that this information won’t be used for direct training but may serve as input for "synthetic data generation," potentially for training purposes.
"Data synchronized from Google Drive or Slack will not be used for training," the document confirms.
