OpenAI has launched a pilot programme in select regions from 13 November, introducing group chats within ChatGPT. The feature allows users to create shared spaces where friends, family, classmates, or colleagues can collaborate, while the AI helps in making decisions, generating ideas, and organising plans. OpenAI noted that these group chats are separate from personal conversations, ensuring that each user’s individual ChatGPT memory remains private and inaccessible to others.
The rollout is available on mobile and web for logged-in users across Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans, but only in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan for now.
The feature can be particularly helpful for planning activities such as weekend trips, as ChatGPT can compare destinations, build itineraries, and create shared packing lists. For hands-on projects — like designing a backyard garden or choosing decor for a new apartment — group chats let partners or roommates exchange ideas in one place. They also simplify group decisions, such as picking a restaurant or settling small debates neutrally. In academic and professional settings, group chats support collaboration by helping draft outlines, organise research, summarise notes, and streamline information-sharing.Story continues below this ad
How it works
To start a group chat, tap the people icon in the top-right corner of any chat window. Adding someone to an existing chat creates a duplicate, preserving the original conversation. Users can invite between one and twenty people via a shareable link. When someone joins or creates their first group chat, they set up a profile with their name, username, and photo for transparency. Group chats appear in a newly labelled section in the sidebar.
These chats function much like regular ChatGPT conversations but allow multiple participants to take part. They run on GPT-5.1 Auto, which selects the best model based on the user’s subscription tier. Users can still search within chats, upload files, generate images, and use dictation. Rate limits apply only to ChatGPT’s responses, not user messages, and all AI replies count towards a user’s limit.
Here are the steps on how you can invite people to the group chat.(Image: OpenAI)
ChatGPT has also been trained to pick up social cues in group environments, responding only when relevant. Users can tag “ChatGPT” to prompt an answer. The AI can react with emojis and even personalise images using group members’ profile photos. Group settings can be managed by tapping the participant icons, allowing renaming, adding or removing users, muting notifications, or setting custom instructions for ChatGPT’s responses.
On privacy, OpenAI emphasised that group chats are entirely distinct from personal chats, and personal memory is neither used nor created within them. Users must accept invitations to join a group, can see all participants, and may leave at any time. Only the group creator can remove themselves.Story continues below this ad
For younger users, ChatGPT automatically restricts sensitive content if any participant is under 18. Parents or guardians also have the option to disable group chats through parental controls.
OpenAI said this pilot represents an early step towards more interactive shared experiences within ChatGPT. The company will evaluate feedback from early users before expanding the feature to additional regions and subscription plans.
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