In a bid to widen its reach, OpenAI has unveiled ChatGPT Pulse, a new feature designed to evolve its flagship AI chatbot from a reactive question-and-answer tool into a proactive, personalised digital assistant and content curator. Think of it as ChatGPT’s version of Google News, but only a lot smarter, with insights into your personal life and data.
The Pulse feature positions ChatGPT as a direct competitor to popular news aggregation services like Google News and Flipboard, aiming to keep users continuously engaged by guessing their informational needs.
Instead of waiting for a user query, Pulse proactively initiates the conversation by offering a tailored daily briefing. This custom-curated feed is generated through a sophisticated process that analyses a user’s entire interaction history, memory settings, and feedback, alongside conducting “asynchronous research” to synthesise relevant daily updates.
ChatGPT Pulse is your AI assistant
The resulting output is a personalised morning briefing delivered in the form of visual cards that can be quickly scanned or expanded for greater detail. Pulse goes beyond general news headlines to reflect a user’s specific personal goals, current habits, and even calendar events.
“Until now, ChatGPT has been reactive: you ask, it answers. Pulse is changing that by taking the assistance a step further and anticipating your needs,” said an OpenAI representative.
“Think of treating ChatGPT like a super-competent personal assistant: sometimes you ask for things you need in the moment, but if you share general preferences, it will do a good job for you proactively,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a post on X.
Key functionalities include personalised research on autopilot, where the system keeps track of specific interests — from marathon training and meal planning to professional sports leagues — and delivers relevant, focused updates directly into the chat interface.
Furthermore, Pulse can integrate with connected applications, such as Gmail and Google Calendar, allowing it to bring highly contextual information like restaurant recommendations for an upcoming trip, birthday reminders, or even drafting preliminary meeting agendas. Note that this app integration remains optional and requires user consent.
OpenAI says that the Pulse updates refresh just once a day and vanish unless saved, thus preventing the endless scrolling characteristic of social media feeds. Users retain the ability to give ‘thumbs up or down’ feedback on any update.
How to access ChatGPT Pulse
ChatGPT Pulse is currently available as an experimental preview for Pro subscribers on mobile devices only. OpenAI has said that the feature will be rolled out to Plus users in the near future.
