OpenAI begins beta trial of ChatGPT connectors for Google Drive & Slack

OpenAI is set to begin beta testing ChatGPT Connectors, a new feature that enables business users to link applications such as Google Drive and Slack to ChatGPT, according to reports, 

ChatGPT Connectors will allow ChatGPT Team subscribers to integrate their workspace Google Drive and Slack accounts, enabling the chatbot to provide responses informed by files, presentations, spreadsheets, and Slack conversations from these platforms. OpenAI also plans to expand support to other platforms, including Microsoft SharePoint and Box, in the future.

“This will allow employees using ChatGPT to easily make use of internal information similar to how they can use world knowledge via web search,” the report states.

The initiative is OpenAI’s latest effort to position ChatGPT as a vital tool within business software ecosystems. While some companies have expressed concerns regarding ChatGPT’s access to sensitive corporate information, others have welcomed the integration.

The feature is powered by a custom version of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, which refines its responses based on internal company knowledge. Employees in a participating ChatGPT Team workspace will be able to use this enhanced model via OpenAI’s ChatGPT apps.

To facilitate information retrieval, OpenAI will sync an encrypted copy of company files and conversations to ChatGPT’s servers, creating a search index. According to the report, additional related information that the model does not directly use will be accessible via a 'sources' button at the bottom of each response.

OpenAI has stated that Slack and Google Drive permissions will be 'fully respected' and kept updated, ensuring that employees can only access content via ChatGPT that they are authorised to view within Google Drive or Slack. Administrators will have control over which Slack channels and Google Drive files are synced. However, responses to the same prompts may vary among employees due to differing access permissions.

Technical limitations of ChatGPT Connectors include the inability to process images in Google Drive files, such as Google Docs, Google Slides, PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations. Additionally, while the model can read data in Sheets and Excel workbooks, it cannot analyse them. Slack direct messages, group messages, and messages from Slack bots are also excluded from retrieval.

“No data synced from Google Drive or Slack will be used for training,” the report confirms.

Organisations interested in participating in the beta programme are required to provide OpenAI with 100 documents, spreadsheets, presentations, or Slack channel conversations. While OpenAI has stated that it will not use this data for direct model training, it may be used for synthetic data generation.