
Comply with ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- OpenAI launched a shared initiatives mode and new connectors for ChatGPT.
- It additionally introduced safety upgrades for groups utilizing the chatbot.
- It is a part of a broader technique to promote AI instruments to companies.
OpenAI has begun rolling out new team collaboration and safety features for ChatGPT.
Additionally: Microsoft will compete with AWS to offer a marketplace of AI apps and agents
The brand new options — which embody a “shared initiatives” mode, a raft of latest third-party app connectors, and safety and compliance updates — are collectively designed to spice up enterprise prospects’ reliance upon and belief within the firm’s flagship AI chatbot. This is what’s new.
Shared initiatives
The brand new shared initiatives mode inside ChatGPT permits the chatbot to recollect the context of a bunch dialog over time. Particular person crew members can add paperwork or different information to a shared challenge, and ChatGPT will pull information from these property to tell the responses that it generates to future prompts inside the chat.
Shared initiatives are saved privately and retain data throughout time, making them particularly helpful for crew conversations centered on consumer information or different delicate topics and long-running conversations which might be topic to frequent updates. A challenge creator inside a crew can invite colleagues to collaborate through hyperlink or electronic mail, equally to how one would invite a colleague to entry a Google Doc. Teammates can take part “chat” or “edit” mode.
Additionally: ChatGPT Pulse works overnight to produce personalized morning updates for you – how to try it
The replace builds upon Projects, one other characteristic for ChatGPT which debuted final yr as a sort of digital submitting system to assist customers set up their chats based on topic or challenge.
“Now you possibly can share initiatives with teammates, including information and directions collectively to information ChatGPT’s responses towards a shared purpose,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post. “Members can chat with the challenge’s context to remain on the identical web page as new data will get added and create work that stays constant in tone and elegance.”
OpenAI stated that early exams with the brand new shared initiatives characteristic confirmed that groups had been utilizing it to remain up to date on shared paperwork like proposals and contracts and to take care of a constant voice throughout their group’s communications, amongst different makes use of.
Additionally: Your colleagues are sick of your AI workslop
The shared initiatives characteristic is accessible now by way of ChatGPT’s Enterprise, Enterprise, and Edu plans, and will likely be quickly for Go, Plus, Professional, and Free accounts.
Connector updates
OpenAI additionally introduced Thursday that it launched new connectors to Gmail, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Groups, SharePoint, GitHub, Dropbox, and Field, giving ChatGPT the power to tug data instantly from these third-party apps.
The system can now robotically decide which connector to entry with out being particularly prompted, and ChatGPT’s responses after a connector search are additionally now quicker and extra correct, based on OpenAI.
Additionally: OpenAI tested GPT-5, Claude, and Gemini on real-world tasks – the results were surprising
In a quick demo video within the weblog, a consumer asks ChatGPT for a abstract of updates on a piece challenge from their current emails. The chatbot then pulls data from the consumer’s Gmail account and generates a listing of the newest related developments, together with motion objects and different information.
This specific replace to ChatGPT displays a broader effort all through the tech trade to show AI assistants into centralized nodes by way of which prospects can retrieve data — with out being directed away from the assistant itself. For instance, Anthropic introduced a connector update in July for its Claude chatbot, enabling it to retrieve information from exterior apps like Canva and Asana. Earlier that very same month, Zoom’s AI Companion was upgraded with the power to connect with over a dozen third-party apps.
Tighter safety
For its third and remaining replace introduced Thursday, OpenAI has built-in new safety protocols for groups utilizing ChatGPT.
Additionally: AI helps strong dev teams and hurts weak ones, according to Google’s 2025 DORA report
The corporate says its chatbot is now licensed to ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018, and 27701 requirements, and that its SOC 2 compliance now covers Safety, Confidentiality, Availability, and Privateness standards.
The admins of Enterprise and Edu accounts may also specify which inner crew members can entry connectors and different options, including a layer of safety and management. In addition they now have entry to an elective IP “allowlisting” characteristic that ensures that ChatGPT will solely reply to requests from authorized IP addresses.
“Any request from an unapproved IP is robotically blocked, even when the consumer has legitimate credentials,” OpenAI writes in its weblog publish.
A rising concentrate on companies
Many AI builders have been aggressively advertising to companies as they work to commercialize generative AI merchandise. OpenAI is reportedly building a workplace productivity platform to compete instantly with Google Office and Microsoft Workplace 365, and ChatGPT is now utilized by over 5 million enterprise prospects, based on the corporate.
Additionally: Microsoft Copilot now offers Claude models – how to try them
Anthropic, in the meantime, just lately introduced a $183 billion valuation — a gargantuan determine that may be attributed largely to the recognition of that firm’s merchandise amongst enterprise prospects.
In the meantime, Microsoft and Amazon, along with constructing their very own in-house fashions, are betting that they’ll develop into trusted middlemen for companies trying to purchase AI instruments developed by different corporations.



