ChatGPT can now connect to MCP servers - here's how, and what to watch for

Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) has quickly gained popularity as the emerging industry standard for seamlessly integrating data with AI systems. In a rare move among competitors, companies including Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft have adopted the open protocol in recent months due to its ability to power AI agents with previously inaccessible data sources -- a huge benefit to businesses navigating siloed information. 

Earlier this month, OpenAI made MCP available in ChatGPT alongside a host of other business-forward features. It can be used to connect your tools with Deep Research, allowing employees to access company data through the chatbot. OpenAI initially adopted MCP in April, beginning with its SDK. Currently, capabilities are limited to search and document retrieval.  

Also: I tested ChatGPT's Deep Research against Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok AI to see which is best

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