OpenAI has introduced Pulse, a new feature available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers on mobile devices, which provides personalized daily summaries designed to organize the day ahead. Unlike ChatGPT’s traditional reactive approach, Pulse actively gathers information and delivers focused updates each morning in the form of visual cards.
This curated briefing draws from the user’s chat history, direct feedback, and connected applications such as calendars and email, offering a concise way to start the day without having to open the app or scroll through extensive content.
How Pulse Works
Pulse carries out its work overnight by analyzing various user signals. It reviews chats saved in memory, monitors feedback from prior reports, and incorporates data from linked services, including Gmail and Google Calendar, with explicit user permission. The result is a set of five to ten visual cards each morning, covering topics relevant to upcoming events, frequently accessed information, and individual preferences. Users can tap on these cards to explore more detail or save them for later review.
The cards display reminders about scheduled meetings, birthdays, travel plans, or suggested tasks. They also capture ongoing interests from previous conversations for instance, offering meal ideas based on a user’s past culinary-related queries or alerting users about an upcoming birthday, along with gift suggestions. Pulse’s structure aims to deliver just enough useful information, enabling users to engage with their day productively without feeling burdened by information overload.
Currently, Pulse is exclusive to Pro subscribers who pay $200 a month. The feature requires memory to be enabled for personalized insights, but allows users to switch off either memory or Pulse at any time within app settings. It is designed for mobile platforms only, with no access on desktop or web versions as of now.
User Interaction and Controls
Users have meaningful control over what Pulse presents. The “curate” option lets users specify topics they want included or excluded in future daily reports. Feedback can be given quickly through thumbs up or down on individual cards, or in a more detailed form through in-app comment options. This feedback shapes what appears over time, tuning the experience to better match individual needs.
Data privacy remains a priority. Connections to email and calendar remain disabled by default and require active permission. Safety filters are in place to prevent harmful or inappropriate content from reaching the user. Additionally, users may report content they find problematic directly through the app’s controls, reinforcing safe and respectful use.
Leadership Views on Pulse’s Role and Reach
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has described Pulse as his favorite feature launched to date for ChatGPT. Announcing it on social media, he noted its current limitations primarily, its availability is restricted to Pro users due to the significant computing resources required. The feature’s limited rollout reflects ongoing challenges in scaling resource-intensive services to a broader audience.
Fidji Simo, CEO of OpenAI Applications, positioned Pulse as a first step toward making powerful digital assistance capabilities accessible beyond the wealthiest or enterprise users. Plans exist to extend Pulse availability to lower subscription tiers as infrastructure and demand evolve. For now, the feature remains in a preview state to collect user feedback and improve over time.
Pulse fits broader trends in digital assistants moving away from being solely reactive tools toward services expected to anticipate needs, surfacing timely and relevant information without explicit prompts. By doing research overnight, Pulse delivers curated daily reports aimed at simplifying morning routines and reducing dependence on conventional news outlets or social media platforms.
Pulse delivers actionable, concise information calibrated to a user’s schedule, interests, and recent activity. Its design balances innovation with user agency and privacy, presenting information in an accessible format to enhance daily productivity and awareness. The feature’s rollout prioritizes supervised scaling and refinement to create a sustainable personalized digital assistant experience.
