OpenAI has expanded ChatGPT’s third-party integrations with new connectors for Dropbox, Microsoft Teams, and other enterprise tools while CEO Sam Altman outlined the company’s strategy for managing GPT-5 demand amid capacity constraints. The updates reflect OpenAI’s effort to balance its ambitious AI rollout with infrastructure limitations, as the company serves 700 million weekly ChatGPT users following GPT-5’s “bumpy” debut last week.
What you should know: OpenAI is prioritizing existing customers first as it scales GPT-5 access across different user tiers and API services.
- Current paying ChatGPT users will receive more total usage than before GPT-5’s release, though specific increases weren’t disclosed.
- GPT-5’s “thinking” mode carries usage limits of 3,000 messages per week for ChatGPT Plus subscribers ($20/month) but only 200 weekly messages for Team plan users ($30/user/month).
- API access will prioritize existing customers and contracted users before expanding to new developers.
Infrastructure expansion: Altman announced plans to roughly double OpenAI’s compute fleet over the next five months to ease capacity constraints.
- The company can currently support “about an additional ~30% new API growth” from current levels.
- OpenAI serves approximately 5 million businesses paying for ChatGPT access, though total API user numbers weren’t specified.
- The expansion should improve performance for both ChatGPT and API users as demand stabilizes.
New workspace integrations: ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers gained access to additional third-party connectors for streamlined productivity workflows.
- Plus users ($20/month) can now connect to Box, Canva, Dropbox, HubSpot, Notion, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams to search files and projects directly within ChatGPT.
- Pro subscribers ($200/month) received additional Microsoft Teams and GitHub connectors, joining existing Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar integrations.
- Users must manually connect external accounts through ChatGPT’s settings menu under the “Connectors” section.
Important limitations: The new connectors face geographic and enterprise restrictions that may limit adoption.
- Third-party integrations are unavailable for users in Europe, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
- Enterprise and Education plan administrators must manually enable the beta connectors, which are disabled by default.
- The staged rollout reflects OpenAI’s cautious approach to managing both technical capacity and regulatory compliance.
The big picture: OpenAI is positioning GPT-5 as part of a more connected workspace ecosystem while carefully managing the infrastructure demands of its massive user base, demonstrating how even leading AI companies must balance innovation with operational realities.
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