OpenAI is gearing up to begin beta testing a new feature called ChatGPT Connectors. With this tool, enterprise ChatGPT Team subscribers will be able to connect their Google Drive and Slack workspaces to ChatGPT. This will allow the chatbot to answer questions based on data from documents, presentations, spreadsheets stored in Drive, as well as from conversations with colleagues in Slack.
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In the future, OpenAI plans to expand support for ChatGPT Connectors to other platforms, such as Microsoft SharePoint. “This will allow employees using ChatGPT to easily interact with internal information, similar to how they can use the world’s knowledge through web search,” OpenAI said.
ChatGPT Connectors is OpenAI’s latest attempt to make its chatbot an integral part of enterprise software tools. Not all enterprises and companies have been willing to give ChatGPT access to sensitive information, so it’s hard to gauge the success of the new feature. ChatGPT Connectors may be able to persuade wary corporate executives to change their stance on ChatGPT, and it could also pose a serious challenge to AI-powered enterprise search platforms like Glean.
The beta version of ChatGPT Connectors is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o AI model, which can adjust its responses based on a company’s “internal knowledge.” The custom GPT-4o model searches for and “reads” internal information that might match a user’s query. To create a search index, the algorithm syncs encrypted copies of a company’s files and conversations with users on ChatGPT servers. “Additional related information that the model has not directly used is available by clicking the sources button below the response text. When appropriate, the model will directly respond with a list of relevant results,” the description of the new feature says.
Perhaps to reassure customers that ChatGPT won’t leak sensitive information, OpenAI emphasizes that permissions granted to users in Slack and Google Drive are “fully respected” and “constantly updated.” For example, ChatGPT Connectors sync memberships in private Slack channels, permissions to files stored in the Google Drive cloud, and directory information. Employees won’t be able to use the chatbot to access data they don’t have access to in Slack or Google Drive.
A significant drawback may be that people will receive “significantly different” answers to the same questions. There are some technical limitations. For example, the chatbot does not support image processing in files on Google Drive, such as Google Docs, Google Slides, etc. The algorithm can also only “read” but not analyze data from Excel tables and workbooks. ChatGPT cannot access personal and group messages in Slack, and will also ignore messages from bots in Slack. OpenAI promises not to use customer data to train its algorithms.