ChatGPT Adds "Company Knowledge" Feature to Search Files from External Services

OpenAI has rolled out an update to ChatGPT, introducing a new capability that enables the AI chatbot to analyze data stored by users in third-party services.

Dubbed "Company Knowledge," this feature debuted on Thursday and is available across ChatGPT’s Business, Enterprise, and Education subscription tiers.

The functionality can be activated via a new button located beneath the chatbot’s message input field. Upon first use, ChatGPT prompts users to connect the external services they wish to grant access to. OpenAI currently offers integrations with more than a dozen cloud applications, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and GitHub.

ChatGPT can simultaneously query multiple third-party platforms. For instance, if a user asks for an update on a software project, the assistant might pull relevant details from both a GitHub repository and project documentation stored in Google Drive. Responses include citations, allowing users to quickly navigate to the source files referenced by the AI.

Under the hood, the new Company Knowledge feature leverages a customized version of GPT-5. According to OpenAI, this tailored model excels at interpreting concise prompts. A request such as “customer feedback on the new analytics feature” could prompt ChatGPT to gather insights not only from feedback forms but also from support tickets and user reviews.

In scenarios where business documents from different teams contain conflicting information, GPT-5 can detect these discrepancies and highlight them in its responses. It achieves this by conducting multiple searches across the connected services to identify varying versions of the data.

When evaluating data sources, the specialized model powering this search capability also takes file creation dates into account. For example, a query for “recent financial results” would lead ChatGPT to summarize last quarter’s earnings rather than those from the previous year. Users can further refine results by specifying preferred date ranges or file creation timestamps.

Built-in access controls allow administrators to manage which employees can access specific data sets. They can also oversee the application connectors users add to their ChatGPT accounts.

At launch, the Company Knowledge feature does not support web-based data retrieval or chart generation when enabled. However, OpenAI plans to introduce these capabilities in the coming months.

Looking ahead, AI providers may extend Company Knowledge connectors to ChatGPT’s consumer version. In 2024, Microsoft introduced similar connectors for its Microsoft 365 Copilot, and this week, it began rolling out select connectors to the free, consumer-facing version of its chatbot.

OpenAI may eventually support custom connectors to further expand the Company Knowledge functionality—a capability already available in Microsoft 365’s Copilot.