This article is for payroll admins who want to connect your company’s Gusto account to ChatGPT, Claude, or Slack.
It’s also for Gusto Pro users who want to connect clients they manage on Gusto. You can connect Gusto to ChatGPT, Claude, or Slack to work with your payroll and people data using natural language. Ask questions, analyze trends, and get summaries without exporting spreadsheets or running reports. If you have access to more than one company in Gusto, you can connect multiple companies through a single connection to ChatGPT or Claude.
Only payroll admins can connect and use these integrations. If you have access to multiple companies and you’re connecting to ChatGPT or Claude, you’ll only see and be able to connect companies where you’re an All access admin.
During this early access phase, some advanced features like running payroll are available to a limited set of customers. We’ll make more functionality available over time.
Account requirement
There is no separate fee to connect Gusto to ChatGPT, Claude, or Slack.
You do need an account with or subscription to a platform with the necessary features enabled:
ChatGPT: Apps enabled
Claude: Connectors enabled
Slack: Apps enabled
Take these steps before authorizing any connection.
Know what happens to your data. See Privacy policies and data FAQs below to understand how each integration handles your data. If you use ChatGPT or Claude, review the platform’s privacy policy and terms before connecting.
Turn off model training. If you use ChatGPT or Claude with a consumer account, disable model-training data sharing in the platform’s settings before you authorize the Gusto connection. Data shared before you change this setting may be used for training.
Tell your team members. Let your team members know that their personal information, payroll data, and tax data may be shared with a third-party platform. Some privacy laws (including CCPA/CPRA) require you to disclose what data you’re sharing and why. Some require employee consent.
Confirm you have permission. For any company you’re connecting, make sure you have the authority and all necessary consents to share its data, including personal and payroll information about its employees and contractors, with the third-party platform.
Check how long platforms keep your data. Each platform has its own data retention policy. Review it before connecting. After you disconnect, you and your employees may have the right to request deletion of personal data under applicable law.
Protect health information. Do not share protected health information with third-party platforms.
Review connections regularly. Disconnect any integrations you no longer use.
Default policies and user settings vary by platform. Review each platform’s user terms and privacy notice before you connect your Gusto account.
OpenAI
Once you authorize the Gusto integration, ChatGPT can retrieve data from your Gusto account to respond to your questions. Once data is in your ChatGPT account, OpenAI's privacy practices govern it.
To opt out of the use of your data for improvement of OpenAI’s models:
In your ChatGPT settings, go to Data controls.
Make sure Improve the model for everyone is turned off.
Anthropic
If you have a commercial account, Anthropic’s Commercial Terms of Service specify that it may not train its models on customer inputs and outputs.
If you have a consumer account, you can opt out of the use of your data for improvement of Anthropic’s models. To opt out:
In Claude, go to Settings.
Select Privacy.
Find the Help improve Claude setting and set it to Off.
To connect Gusto to a supported platform:
Open ChatGPT, Claude, or Slack.
In the app directory, search for Gusto.
Sign in to Gusto when prompted, then review the authorization screen. If you’re connecting to ChatGPT or Claude and have access to multiple companies, you’ll see all the companies you can connect. Choose all of them or only the ones you want. Then choose the read and write permissions you want to allow. The permissions you choose apply to all the companies you connect. You cannot set different permissions for individual companies.
Once connected, you can ask questions and analyze trends. If you connected more than one company, tell the assistant which company you want to work with. You can also ask for some common reports.
Payroll actions
Some companies are also eligible to take payroll actions directly from their connected platform. These actions include:
Reviewing upcoming payroll periods
Verifying payroll totals before submitting
Running payroll
Any payroll actions you take through these integrations are reflected in your Gusto account, just like if you completed them in Gusto directly.
Use this table to find more information about the terms and policies.
Platform
Who’s responsible for your data
Gusto terms
Platform terms
Platform privacy
ChatGPT Your OpenAI account
While Gusto shares data: Gusto. Covered under your Employer ToS and DPA.
Once data reaches OpenAI: OpenAI. Governed by OpenAI’s privacy policy and terms.
Employer Terms of Service and Data Processing Addendum. (Covers Gusto processing only.)
OpenAI Terms of Use (Covers all AI processing.)
Claude
Your Anthropic account
While Gusto shares data: Gusto. Covered under your Employer ToS and DPA.
Once data reaches Anthropic: Anthropic. Governed by Anthropic’s privacy policy and terms.
Employer Terms of Service and Data Processing Addendum. (Covers Gusto processing only.)
Commercial Terms of Service and Consumer Terms of Service (Covers all AI processing.)
Slack
Gusto manages the connection
While Gusto processes data: Gusto. All AI processing covered under your Employer ToS and Privacy Notice. Gusto’s AI provider operates under a zero-retention agreement — your data is never stored or used for training.
Once responses reach Slack: Slack. Governed by Slack’s privacy policy and terms.
Employer Terms of Service and Privacy Notice (Covers all AI processing.)
Slack Terms of Service (Governs output delivery only).
Q: Who manages the AI functionality?
A: For ChatGPT and Claude: When you connect Gusto to ChatGPT or Claude, you’re linking it to your own account with that platform. That means once Gusto shares your data, the platform’s own privacy policy and terms take over — not Gusto’s.
For Slack: The Slack integration works differently. Gusto provides the AI behind the scenes, so your data stays under Gusto’s terms. Slack only handles the delivery of responses.
Q: What data about my company can I access using these platforms?
A: Once you connect your Gusto account, you can ask questions about many parts of your business using plain language. You can ask about:
Company and location info
Employee and contractor details
Jobs, roles, and compensation
Department structure and headcount
Payroll history, totals, and pay breakdowns
Contractor payments
Timesheets and hours worked
Pay schedules and upcoming pay periods
Payroll readiness and potential blockers
Some common reports
Q: Do connected platforms have access to the data in my Gusto account?
A: Yes. By connecting your Gusto account, you authorize and instruct Gusto to share your account data with the third-party platform specified in the authorization process. This includes — but is not limited to — employee personally identifiable information, payroll, and tax data.
You are solely responsible for:
Making sure you have authority and consent to share employee data with third-party platforms
Complying with applicable privacy laws, including providing any required privacy notices to employees
Any actions taken in your Gusto account through third-party platforms.
Gusto is not liable for how third-party platforms use, retain, or process your data or your employees’ data.
Q: How is my data handled when I connect my Gusto Account?
A: These integrations handle your data in two different ways, depending on which platform you use. The difference matters because it affects who controls your data after you connect.
ChatGPT and Claude: You connect through your own account on that platform. When Gusto provides services to you, our Data Processing Agreement (DPA) describes how we process your Gusto data. You’ll see a notice at the time of connection describing what data the platform can access. Once you authorize the connection, the platform can retrieve data from Gusto and will process it under its own privacy policy and terms of service — not Gusto’s.
Gusto in Slack: Gusto manages the connection and the data flow. Your questions and the data returned pass through a large language model (LLM) to generate answers. The LLM provider operates under a zero-retention enterprise agreement with Gusto — it does not store your data, does not use it for training, and deletes it immediately after generating a response. Employee data remains protected by the DPA between Gusto and your company, and your account data remains processed under Gusto’s Privacy Notice. Once responses reach Slack, Slack’s privacy policy and terms of service govern that data. You will see a notice at the time of connection describing what data will be accessible.
Q: Can third-party platforms take actions in my Gusto account, or just view data?
A: Platforms can both view data from (“read”) and send data to or take action in (“write”) your Gusto account. This means a third-party platform could potentially request a payroll calculation or submit payroll for processing.
You are solely responsible for reviewing and verifying any actions before they are executed, and for any consequences of actions taken through the connection. We strongly recommend not enabling settings in your chosen platform that allow tools to run automatically without your approval.
Q: What if a third-party platform makes a mistake or provides incorrect information?
A: Many platforms use artificial intelligence (AI), which may produce inaccurate or incomplete outputs. Gusto is not responsible for errors in AI-generated responses or for any actions taken in your Gusto account based on those responses. Always verify information and review actions before confirming them.
Q: Is my data secure when using this integration?
A: Gusto uses OAuth 2 to authenticate the connection, which means your Gusto password is never shared. However, once a third-party platform retrieves data from your Gusto account, that platform’s security practices — not Gusto’s — govern the protection of your data. Gusto is not responsible for any third-party platform’s security practices.
Q: Can I limit what data a third-party platform can access?
A: The app uses predefined data permissions that allow access to certain data categories. You can review what data categories will be accessible before you authorize the app.
For Claude and Slack, users can limit what data is shared as a part of the connection process. If you’re connecting to ChatGPT or Claude and have access to multiple companies, you choose which companies to connect during authorization. Only the companies you select are shared.
If you do not want data shared with a platform provider, do not enable the app.
You can disconnect your Gusto account to stop sharing data at any time. Disconnecting does not delete data already retrieved from Gusto. Check the platform’s privacy policy for information on data retention or requesting deletion of personal data. If you connected multiple companies, disconnecting removes access for all of them — you cannot remove a single company on its own. To change which companies are connected, reauthorize the Gusto app if your platform offers that option, or disconnect and then reconnect, choosing the companies you want.
ChatGPT
Open ChatGPT.
Go to Apps.
Find the Gusto app and choose Disconnect.
Claude
Open Claude and go to the Gusto app. Disconnect your account.
Slack
To disconnect the integration, simply send a message asking to disconnect.
To remove the app for your entire workspace, a workspace owner or app manager can uninstall it.
Questions or feedback about the ChatGPT, Claude, or Slack integration
Email [email protected] with any questions, feedback, or bug reports.
Questions about data practices
For questions about a platform’s data practices:
OpenAI: Contact OpenAI directly or review their Privacy Policy.
Anthropic: Contact Anthropic directly or review their Privacy Policy.
Gusto: Email [email protected].