Grant ChatGPT permission to access Gmail and Google Calendar
In a move aimed at streamlining email management and daily planning, OpenAI has released GPT-5, a powerful AI assistant that integrates directly with Gmail and Google Calendar. This integration allows users to link their accounts, enabling the AI to access emails, calendar events, and contacts with explicit user permission.
With this integration, GPT-5 offers a range of functionalities designed to make life easier for users. These include email assistance, schedule management, and context awareness. The email assistant can summarize emails, flag important messages, and draft responses automatically based on the user's instructions. The schedule manager provides synthesized overviews of the day’s calendar, identifies conflicts or free times, suggests meeting slots, and adds events directly. The context awareness feature combines information from Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts to offer proactive and personalized task management without switching apps.
However, there are privacy concerns associated with this feature. As it involves giving a chatbot access to personal information stored in Gmail accounts, some users may be hesitant to grant such access, especially considering that chatbots like ChatGPT are designed to vacuum up data. OpenAI emphasizes that data access is strictly user-controlled and revocable at any time, and no user data is stored beyond each session unless explicitly specified. Despite these safeguards, concerns remain since Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts involve highly sensitive personal information.
It's important to note that users must opt in explicitly for the integration, and if asked, ChatGPT can provide an outline of a user's day using the information from their inbox and calendar. OpenAI, the company that has released GPT-5, has faced a lawsuit from Ziff Davis in April, alleging copyright infringement in training and operating its AI systems.
For those interested in tech, space, and science stories, users can sign up for a weekly newsletter on a website. GPT-5 is now available for free to ChatGPT users, and given that Gmail has been used by some users for a decade or more, a lot of personal information could potentially be found in these accounts. Users should carefully consider privacy trade-offs and their comfort level with granting AI access to their personal communications and schedules before deciding to use this service.
- The powerful AI assistant, GPT-5, developed by OpenAI, leverages artificial intelligence and technology to streamline email management and daily planning by integrating directly with Gmail and Google Calendar.
- The integration of GPT-5 with digital platforms offers context awareness, allowing it to proactively manage tasks by combining information from Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts without requiring users to switch apps.
- Despite the potential benefits and conveniences, users should be aware of the privacy concerns associated with the integration of GPT-5, as it involves granting the assistant access to personal information stored in their Gmail accounts, some of which may include highly sensitive data.
