ChatGPT’s Shared Projects: New Team Collaboration Features
▼ Summary
– OpenAI launched a shared projects mode for ChatGPT, allowing teams to collaborate and maintain conversation context over time.
– New third-party app connectors were introduced, enabling ChatGPT to pull information directly from services like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Microsoft Outlook.
– Security and compliance features were upgraded, including new ISO certifications and admin controls for Enterprise and Edu accounts.
– These updates are part of a broader strategy to increase enterprise reliance on and trust in ChatGPT as a business tool.
– The tech industry is increasingly focusing on business customers, with companies competing to offer integrated AI assistants and marketplaces.
OpenAI has introduced a significant suite of updates for ChatGPT, focusing squarely on enhancing team collaboration and enterprise security. These new features, including a shared projects mode, expanded third-party app connectors, and strengthened security certifications, are designed to make the AI chatbot a more integral and trustworthy tool for business environments. This move signals a clear strategic push to capture a larger share of the corporate market.
A central component of this update is the new shared projects mode. This functionality allows ChatGPT to retain the context of a group discussion over an extended period. Team members can contribute by uploading various files, documents, spreadsheets, or presentations, directly into a shared project. The AI then uses the information from these assets to generate more informed and relevant responses to subsequent questions within that specific chat. These projects are stored privately, making them ideal for handling sensitive client information or for long-term initiatives that undergo frequent changes.
Inviting colleagues to collaborate is a straightforward process, similar to sharing a Google Doc, via a link or email invitation. Participants can join with either “chat” or “edit” permissions. This builds upon the existing Projects feature, which serves as a digital filing system for organizing chats. Early testing indicated that teams are leveraging shared projects to keep track of evolving documents like proposals and contracts, and to ensure a uniform communication style across their organization. The feature is currently available for ChatGPT’s Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans, with a rollout planned for other tiers in the future.
Alongside collaborative tools, OpenAI has launched a series of new connectors to popular third-party applications. The list now includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, GitHub, Dropbox, and Box. These integrations enable ChatGPT to pull data directly from these platforms. The system has become more intelligent, now capable of automatically selecting the appropriate connector without explicit instruction, and responses generated from these searches are reportedly faster and more accurate. In a demonstration, a user asked for a summary of project updates from recent emails, and ChatGPT seamlessly compiled a list of key developments and action items from their Gmail account.
This reflects a wider industry trend where AI assistants are being positioned as central hubs for information retrieval, minimizing the need for users to switch between different apps. Competitors like Anthropic’s Claude and Zoom’s AI Companion have recently announced similar connector expansions.
Security has also received a major boost. OpenAI announced that ChatGPT has achieved certification for several international ISO standards (27001, 27017, 27018, and 27701) and expanded its SOC 2 compliance to cover Security, Confidentiality, Availability, and Privacy. For administrators on Enterprise and Edu plans, new controls allow them to restrict which team members can use connectors. An optional IP allowlisting feature provides an additional layer of protection by ensuring ChatGPT only responds to requests originating from pre-approved IP addresses, automatically blocking any attempts from unrecognized sources even with valid login credentials.
This intense focus on business customers is a defining characteristic of the current AI market. OpenAI itself is reportedly developing a workplace productivity platform to compete with giants like Google and Microsoft, and claims over five million enterprise users for ChatGPT. The staggering valuation of competitors like Anthropic further underscores the immense commercial value seen in the enterprise sector. Meanwhile, tech titans such as Microsoft and Amazon are positioning themselves as essential intermediaries, offering marketplaces where businesses can access a wide array of AI tools from various developers.
(Source: ZDNET)
