Wake Up to Pulse: ChatGPT's Personalized Briefings Built While You Sleep

ChatGPT Pulse: A Morning Briefing Engine For Writers

OpenAI is adding a new feature to ChatGPT called Pulse. While you sleep, it assembles five to ten briefs that get you current on what actually matters. The goal is simple: you open ChatGPT before email or social feeds and start your day with signal, not noise.

This marks a shift from chat-on-demand to assistance that works in the background. Pulse runs for subscribers on the $200-a-month Pro plan first, with plans to reach Plus and then everyone once efficiency improves.

What Pulse Does

• Generates morning briefs as "cards" with summaries, visuals, and source links. Click in to get the full report, then ask follow-up questions.
• Combines proactive reports with on-demand requests. You can ask for new briefs or provide feedback to refine future ones.
• Ends deliberately with "Great, that's it for today." This is built to reduce endless scrolling and decision fatigue.
• Personalizes using Connectors (Google Calendar, Gmail), prior chats via memory (if enabled), and your stated interests or current projects.

In demos, reports ranged from a news roundup on a sports team to family travel planning and even costume ideas. For writers, that same flexibility translates to beat coverage, inbox triage, and production planning.

Why This Matters For Writers

• Beat tracking without the rabbit holes. Get overnight updates on your niche, with links and context.
• Faster pitch prep. See story angles, sources, and counterpoints in one place.
• Inbox triage. Pulse can scan email (with Connectors) and surface what needs attention, then propose replies.
• Daily agenda. Pulls your calendar and drafts a clean schedule with deadlines, interviews, and prep time.
• Travel and on-site planning. Build routes, check venues, and map shots or interviews tied to your trip.

How To Set It Up For Real Output

• Subscribe to the Pro plan. Pulse appears as a new tab inside the ChatGPT app.
• Connect Gmail and Google Calendar via ChatGPT's Connectors. Enable memory if you want it to carry context across days.
• Define your inputs: beats, clients, style guide notes, recurring deadlines, and key sources.
• Ask for daily briefs on your beat, a schedule for the day, email summaries, and a reading list with links.
• Give tight feedback. Short notes like "more skeptical sources," "exclude paywalled links," or "limit to five items" compound the quality.

Prompts To Try

• "Create a morning brief on [topic/beat]. Include five credible sources, key quotes, and potential story angles. Cite links."
• "Build my agenda for today from my calendar. Add prep blocks for interviews and research. Highlight hard deadlines."
• "Scan my inbox since last night. Flag high-priority threads and draft two reply options for each, concise and on-brand."
• "Collect opposing viewpoints on [issue]. Summarize arguments, include sources, and list two experts to contact."
• "Turn this trip to [location] into a shoots-and-interviews plan: locations, timing, local contacts, and backup options."

How It's Rolling Out

Pulse is starting with the Pro plan due to compute-heavy workloads. OpenAI has said capacity is tight and is increasing infrastructure with partners like Oracle and SoftBank. The plan is to bring Pulse to Plus subscribers next, then all users once efficiency improves.

As OpenAI's applications lead put it, the aim is to make high-end assistance accessible to everyone over time. The company has also hinted at more autonomy later: booking tables, drafting emails for approval, and similar tasks once the models and trust catch up.

Will It Replace News Apps?

Probably not. Pulse cites its sources, much like ChatGPT Search. Use it as your filter and planning layer, then click through to read and verify. Keep your core reading list, let Pulse reduce the chaos.

Practical Next Steps

• List your top beats, recurring columns, and active projects. Feed that into Pulse as explicit instructions.
• Define constraints: preferred outlets, source quality thresholds, max items per brief, and any diet or travel prefs relevant to assignments.
• Close the loop daily. Mark what was useful, what was noise, and what to change tomorrow.

You can read more about ChatGPT features on the official page here: OpenAI ChatGPT.

If you want hands-on training and tools built for writers, explore these resources: AI Tools For Copywriting and Courses By Job.