OpenAI is set to launch a new feature called ChatGPT Connectors, which will enable businesses to link their workspace Google Drive and Slack accounts to ChatGPT, allowing the chatbot to answer questions informed by files, presentations, spreadsheets, and Slack conversations across those accounts. According to a document viewed by TechCrunch, the beta testing of ChatGPT Connectors will start soon, marking a significant step forward in integrating ChatGPT into businesses' software toolkits.

The new feature is designed to allow ChatGPT to access internal company knowledge, making it an indispensable part of businesses' operations. This move is likely to convince wary company executives to adopt ChatGPT, despite initial reservations about allowing the AI model to access sensitive business information. By leveraging internal knowledge, ChatGPT Connectors could pose a formidable challenge to AI-powered enterprise search platforms like Glean.

ChatGPT Connectors will be powered by a custom version of OpenAI's GPT-4o model, which can refine its responses based on internal company knowledge. The model will search and "read" internal information relevant to a query, creating a search index by syncing an encrypted copy of company files and conversations on ChatGPT's servers. Users will be able to access additional related information by clicking on the sources button at the bottom of each response.

To alleviate concerns about data privacy, OpenAI has emphasized that Slack and Google Drive permissions will be "fully respected" and "kept continuously up to date." This means that employees won't be able to discover content via ChatGPT that they can't access in Google Drive or Slack, and admins will have the ability to choose which Slack channels and Google Drive files are synced. However, employees might receive "substantially different" responses to the same ChatGPT prompts due to the customized model.

There are technical limitations to what ChatGPT Connector can access. For instance, images in Google Drive files, such as Google Docs, Google Slides, PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and plain text, are not supported. Additionally, ChatGPT Connector can only "read" – not analyze – data in Sheets and Excel workbooks. It also cannot retrieve Slack DMs or group messages and will ignore messages from Slack bots.

Companies interested in participating in the ChatGPT Connector beta are required to provide OpenAI with 100 documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and/or Slack channel conversations. OpenAI has assured that it won't directly train on the information, but may use it "as input to synthetic data generation" that might be used in its training. The company has also emphasized that no data synced from Google Drive or Slack will be used for training.

OpenAI's move to introduce ChatGPT Connectors marks a significant step forward in the development of AI-powered chatbots for businesses. As the technology continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how companies adapt to the new capabilities and how OpenAI addresses the potential challenges and concerns surrounding data privacy and security.