Imagine waking up to a personalised briefing that already knows what you need before your first cup of coffee. That’s exactly what OpenAI is aiming for with Pulse, a new feature in ChatGPT designed to shift the tool from chatbot to fully-fledged digital assistant—and it’s just getting started.
Your daily life, summarised before breakfast
Pulse is built to offer tailored daily briefings, created overnight and ready when you wake up. But to do that, it needs context—meaning ChatGPT needs access to some of your personal data, like your calendar events, recent emails, and topics you’ve discussed in previous chats.
Using this information, Pulse assembles a series of context cards, each one focused on your current interests and priorities. Think: a recap of your football team’s latest score, weather alerts for an upcoming trip, gift ideas for a friend’s birthday, or even a heads-up on your favourite cryptocurrency’s performance.
It’s not about overloading you with info—it’s about giving you just the right slice of your world, exactly when you need it.
Making AI assistance more accessible
The idea behind Pulse isn’t just convenience. OpenAI says it wants to democratise personal assistance—offering everyone a level of support that was once only available to the ultra-wealthy with full-time staff.
As Fidji Simo, head of applications at OpenAI, put it: “We’re building AI that gives everyone access to the kind of help once reserved for the elite—managing schedules, planning travel, even picking out clothes.”
There’s one small caveat though: for now, Pulse is only available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers, a premium tier that currently costs €229 per month. That price tag might seem to undercut the goal of accessibility, but OpenAI has made it clear that Pulse will eventually roll out to free-tier users as well.
From chatbot to proactive assistant
Pulse also signals a broader shift in OpenAI’s strategy. For years, ChatGPT has functioned primarily as a reactive tool—brilliant at answering questions and assisting in real time, but only when prompted.
Now, with features like Pulse and the earlier release of Agent (which handles complex tasks with minimal input) and Codex (which works across multiple coding tasks), ChatGPT is starting to act more like a digital butler. One that doesn’t just wait to be asked—it anticipates, prepares, and acts ahead of time.
“The real leap in AI will come when assistants understand your goals and help you reach them without needing detailed instructions,” says Simo. “Pulse is our first step in that direction.”
Will users embrace the upgrade?
Pulse is clearly built with the power user in mind, but the question is whether casual users will find it as essential as a weather app or a morning alarm. OpenAI seems confident that habit-forming AI can become part of the daily routine, and Pulse is one of its boldest attempts yet.
As AI continues to weave itself into everyday life, the success of tools like Pulse will come down to how well they understand not just data—but people. And if OpenAI gets that right, your next assistant might already be sitting quietly in your pocket, planning your day before you even open your eyes.
