ChatGPT is moving closer to the most personal part of the Mac: the message thread. OpenAI says its new Apple Messages plug-in can help users tame conversations, but the tool’s ability to act in their name has put privacy and oversight at the center of the rollout.
The feature arrived as an expansion of ChatGPT on Mac, connecting the chatbot directly to a user’s Messages inbox. OpenAI’s pitch is straightforward: users can “Search messages, catch up on conversations, draft and send replies.”1 That turns ChatGPT from a writing assistant into a tool that can retrieve details from old chats and help manage the daily churn of replies.
A separate account of the launch outlined the broader scope. The plug-in can sort, analyze and edit messages, search through message history, delete messages, and draft and send texts on a user’s behalf. It also works with Codex and ChatGPT Work, extending the use case beyond personal correspondence and into professional communication.2
That convenience is also the friction point. OpenAI told Bloomberg that the plug-in runs locally on the user’s machine and “doesn’t create an index of all someone’s messages.”2 The claim is meant to reassure users that their inbox is not simply being copied into a new cloud database, though the precise practical limits of that local processing remain unclear.
OpenAI has nevertheless acknowledged the risk inherent in letting software speak for someone. It advises users to monitor the tool’s actions and warns that persistent approval “removes your final chance to review a message before ChatGPT sends it as you.”2 The launch thus offers a familiar AI bargain: less inbox labor in exchange for granting an assistant access to conversations many users treat as their most private digital record.