Is it now possible to search for company insider knowledge with a Google search…but… OpenAI?It certainly seems that way.
Today, OpenAI is launching enterprise knowledge on ChatGPT. This is a major new feature for subscribers of ChatGPT’s paid Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans, allowing them to call their data directly from third-party workplace apps like Slack, SharePoint, Google Drive, Gmail, GitHub, and HubSpot and combine it with ChatGPT output.
Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, said in a post on Social Network X: "All the context from your apps (Slack, Google Drive, GitHub, etc.) is integrated into ChatGPT, so you can get answers specific to your business."
Interestingly, OpenAI’s blog post about this feature states: "It utilizes a version of GPT-5 that is trained to examine multiple sources and provide more comprehensive and accurate answers." This sounds to me like a new, tweaked version of the model family the company released in August, but there are no additional details on how it was trained.
Nevertheless, ChatGPT’s corporate knowledge is deployed around the world and, supported by secure integrations and enterprise-grade compliance controls, is designed to make ChatGPT the central point of access to verified organizational information, giving employees much faster access to company information while on the job.
Instead of switching to Slack to find a given assignment or instruction, or tabbing into Google Drive and opening a specific file to find the name or number you need to call, ChatGPT can deliver all that type of information directly into your chat session (if your company has enabled the appropriate connections).
Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer at OpenAI, wrote in a post on social network X: "More than anything I’ve ever built, my knowledge of the company has changed the way I use chatgpt at work. Let us know what you think."
It builds on third-party app connectors announced in August 2025, but these were only intended for individual users on the ChatGPT Plus plan.
Connect ChatGPT to your work system
Enterprise teams often face the challenge of data fragmentation across a variety of internal tools, including email, chat, file storage, project management, and customer platforms.
Enterprise Knowledge bridges these silos by allowing ChatGPT to connect to approved systems and other supported apps through enterprise-managed connectors.
Each answer, generated based on company knowledge, includes a citation and a direct link to the original source, so your team can see where specific details came from. This transparency helps organizations maintain data reliability while increasing productivity.
OpenAI confirms that Enterprise Knowledge uses a version of GPT-5 that is optimized for multi-source inference and cross-system synthesis, delivering detailed and context-accurate results even across disparate sources.
Built for enterprise control and security
Enterprise Knowledge was designed from the ground up for enterprise governance and compliance. Existing permissions within connected apps are respected. ChatGPT can only access what you are already authorized to see. By default, we do not train on corporate data.
Security features include industry standard encryption, SSO and SCIM support for account provisioning, and IP whitelisting to restrict access to approved corporate networks.
Corporate administrators can also define role-based access control (RBAC) policies and manage permissions at the group or department level.
OpenAI’s Enterprise Compliance API provides a complete audit trail and allows administrators to review conversation logs for reporting and regulatory purposes.
This feature helps companies meet internal governance standards and industry-specific requirements such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance.
Administrator configuration and connector management
For enterprise deployments, an administrator must enable Enterprise Knowledge and its connectors within the ChatGPT workspace. Once the connector is activated, users will be able to authenticate their accounts for each work app they need to access.
On Enterprise and Edu plans, connectors are turned off by default and require explicit administrator approval for employees to use them. Administrators can selectively enable connectors, manage access by role, and require SSO-based authentication for added control.
In contrast, Business plan users have connectors automatically enabled if they are available in their workspace. Administrators can still monitor which connectors are approved and ensure alignment with internal IT and data policies.
Company knowledge is available to all users with at least one active connector, and administrators can configure group-level permissions for different teams. For example, restrict access to GitHub to engineering, but enable Google Drive or HubSpot for marketing and sales.
How corporate knowledge works in practice
Leveraging in-house knowledge is easy. Users can start a new or existing conversation in ChatGPT and select (Corporate Knowledge) from the Message Composer or Tools menu.
After you authorize your connected app, you can ask questions as usual, such as “Please summarize the latest feedback and risks for this account” or “Please summarize Q4 performance from the project tracker.”
ChatGPT searches across connected tools, retrieves relevant context, and generates answers with full citations and source links.
The system can combine data from across your apps (for example, blending Slack updates, Google Docs notes, and HubSpot CRM records) to create a unified view of your projects, clients, or initiatives.
If Enterprise Knowledge is not selected, ChatGPT may use the connector in a limited capacity as part of the default experience, but responses will not include detailed citations or multi-source synthesis.
Advanced use cases for enterprise teams
For development and operations leaders, enterprise knowledge serves as a unified intelligence layer that uncovers real-time updates and dependencies across complex workflows. ChatGPT can, for example, summarize open GitHub pull requests, highlight unresolved Linear tickets, and cross-reference Slack engineering discussions all into one output.
Technical teams can also capture relevant information from issue trackers, logs, and meeting notes for incident retrospectives and release planning. Procurement or finance leaders can use it to integrate purchase requests and budget updates across shared drives and internal communications.
The model can reference structured and unstructured data simultaneously, supporting a wide range of scenarios, from reviewing compliance documents to summarizing cross-functional performance.
Privacy, data residency, and compliance
Enterprise data protection is a core design element of enterprise knowledge. ChatGPT processes data in line with OpenAI’s enterprise-grade security model, ensuring that connected app data leaves the secure confines of your organization’s authorized environment.
Data residency policies vary by connector. Certain integrations, such as Slack, support region-specific data storage, while other integrations, such as Google Drive and SharePoint, are available to US-based customers with or without resident data. Organizations with local compliance obligations can refer to the connector-specific security documentation for more information.
Corporate knowledge is not subject to geographic restrictions, making it suitable for multinational organizations operating across multiple jurisdictions.
Limitations and future enhancements
Currently, users must manually enable Company Knowledge for each new ChatGPT conversation.
OpenAI is developing an integration interface that automatically integrates enterprise knowledge with other ChatGPT tools such as browsing and graph generation. This eliminates the need for users to switch modes.
When enabled, internal knowledge temporarily disables web browsing and visual output generation, but users can switch modes and re-enable these features within the same conversation.
OpenAI also continues to expand its network of supported tools. Recent updates added connectors for Asana, GitLab Issues, and ClickUp, and OpenAI plans to support future MCP (Model Context Protocol) connectors to enable custom integrations built by developers.
Some important details about company knowledge Based on OpenAI’s public materials, it remains unclear. It remains to be seen whether this system will be able to detect and filter out information labeled as sensitive, whether organizations will be able to individually opt in or out of this feature’s data training, and whether users will ultimately be able to choose which models they utilize.
OpenAI also did not say whether this version of GPT-5 is new or unique to this feature, or what service level guarantees exist to ensure accuracy and prevent hallucinations in enterprise-specific responses. VentureBeat has emailed these and related questions to an OpenAI spokesperson and is awaiting a response. I will publish the answer once I get it.
Availability and how to get started
Company knowledge is now available to all ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu users. Organizations can start by enabling features in the ChatGPT message composer and connecting approved work apps.
For enterprise deployments, OpenAI recommends gradual adoption. Start by enabling core connectors (such as Google Drive or Slack), configuring RBAC and SSO, and extending to dedicated systems once your data access policies are validated.
Procurement and security leaders evaluating this feature should note that corporate knowledge will be applied to existing ChatGPT Enterprise terms and the same encryption, compliance, and service level guarantees will be used.
OpenAI aims to leverage enterprise knowledge to make ChatGPT more than just a conversational assistant, but an intelligent interface to enterprise data, providing secure, context-aware insights so technology and business leaders can act with confidence.
