OpenAI To Explore ChatGPT Connectors for Google Drive & Slack

A method for corporate clients to link Slack and Google Drive to ChatGPT will shortly be tested by OpenAI.

The new ChatGPT feature that will enable the chatbot to connect with other platforms is reportedly about to go into testing by OpenAI. The feature, called ChatGPT Connectors, will be accessible to the platform’s Teams subscribers and will reportedly be able to connect with Google Drive for Workspace and the enterprise communications platform Slack at launch. In essence, the feature will enable ChatGPT to sync with the platform’s internal data and respond to user inquiries based on that knowledge base.

According to a document seen by TechCrunch, the business will shortly begin testing this new feature for ChatGPT Teams members. In order for the chatbot to respond to queries based on files, spreadsheets, presentations, and Slack discussions from various accounts, ChatGPT Connectors will enable ChatGPT Team members to connect their workplace Google Drive and Slack accounts to ChatGPT. According to reports, it is intended as an enterprise tool that links to external databases and communication platforms so that users may retrieve data from them and respond to inquiries about it.

According to the paper, “this will enable employees using ChatGPT to readily utilize internal information in a manner akin to how they can use world knowledge via web search.”

In the future, the business intends to extend the capability to Box and Microsoft SharePoint, according to the article.

OpenAI’s most recent effort to make ChatGPT a vital component of companies’ software toolkits is called ChatGPT Connectors. While some businesses have voiced concerns about giving ChatGPT access to private company data, others have welcomed the technology wholeheartedly.

ChatGPT Connectors pose a serious threat to AI-powered corporate search systems like Glean and have the potential to persuade cautious business leaders to reconsider their stance.

A version of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model powers ChatGPT Connectors, which is going live in beta for a restricted group of ChatGPT Team users. The paper states that the model may improve its answers by using “internal [company] knowledge.” Through OpenAI’s ChatGPT applications, the model is accessible to every user in a participating ChatGPT Team workplace.

According to reports, ChatGPT Connectors are driven by a variant of the GPT-4o AI model that may be anchored to the connected platform’s “internal knowledge.” According to reports, the model is accessible to all users in a participating ChatGPT Team workplace using OpenAI’s chatbot.

Privacy may be one issue with the feature. According to the article, the customized GPT-4o AI model syncs an encrypted copy of the files and discussions on OpenAI’s servers to search the internal database and generate a search index. Who could have access to these files and how long they will be kept are still unknown.

Sources for relevant information that was not specifically used to answer the question will apparently also be displayed via ChatGPT Connectors. It is stated that this button should be positioned at the bottom of every response. Additionally, it is claimed that the AI model may access both the model’s training data and external information via the Internet.

The tool would “fully respect” Slack and Google Drive permissions, according to the internal paper. It is also said that the function can only parse text. Google Drive files that contain music, video, or images won’t be supported. Furthermore, it is only able to connect to channels and is purportedly unable to access Slack’s group messaging or direct messages.

Companies who want to be part of the beta test are reportedly being asked by OpenAI to submit 100 papers and Slack channel discussions. According to the AI company, the data will not be used directly to train the AI model but may instead be used “as input to synthetic data generation,” which might then be used to train the model.