OpenAI has announced a new feature that allows users to collaborate with friends, family, classmates or colleagues in shared conversations powered by ChatGPT. The company began piloting “group chats” on Thursday across select regions, marking the first major step toward making ChatGPT a collaborative space rather than a one-on-one assistant.
The pilot is initially available to logged-in users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand. More regions will be added after the company evaluates early user feedback.
A space for collaborative planning
Group chats allow multiple users to join the same conversation with ChatGPT, making it easier to plan activities, organise projects or brainstorm ideas together. The tool can help groups compare travel itineraries, draft outlines, summarise research, create shared lists or assist with joint decision-making.
According to OpenAI, group chats are kept separate from individual private conversations. Personal ChatGPT memory is not shared with other participants, preserving user privacy across all interactions.
The feature is expected to simplify planning for everyday scenarios—such as choosing a restaurant, coordinating a weekend trip, or designing a new space with a partner. It also aims to support workplace or classroom collaboration by allowing participants to share articles, documents and notes within the chat. ChatGPT can then summarise and organise the shared content.
How the new feature works
To start a group chat, users can tap the people icon on any new or existing ChatGPT conversation. When someone is added to an existing chat, ChatGPT automatically creates a copy of that conversation to ensure the original remains private.
Users can invite one to twenty people by sharing a join link. All members can further share the link to include others, and each participant sets up a short profile with a name, username and photo so everyone can identify who is in the chat.
Group chats appear in a dedicated section of the sidebar for easy access.
ChatGPT’s behaviour has also been updated for multi-user conversations. The model will respond only when necessary based on the flow of discussion, but users can prompt it directly by mentioning “ChatGPT”. The assistant can also react to messages with emojis, reference group members’ profile photos when generating images and adapt its tone based on custom instructions set for each group.
Responses in group chats are powered by GPT-5.1 Auto, which selects the best model available based on the participant’s subscription tier. Search, image generation, file uploads and dictation are all supported.
Privacy and user control
OpenAI emphasised that privacy was a core factor in designing the group chat system. Group chats do not use or update a user’s personal ChatGPT memory. Participants must accept an invitation before joining and can leave at any time. The group creator cannot be removed by others and can only exit voluntarily.
The company is also testing additional controls that may, in the future, allow users to decide how memory functions within group chat environments.
Safety measures for young users
For users under 18, ChatGPT will automatically reduce exposure to sensitive content for everyone in the shared conversation. Parents and guardians can disable group chats entirely using parental controls.
Looking ahead
OpenAI says group chats are the first step toward enabling richer, shared experiences with ChatGPT. The company plans to expand access beyond the initial regions and incorporate feedback from early users.
As ChatGPT becomes more capable within group settings, OpenAI expects it to assist people in generating ideas, coordinating activities and supporting collaborative creativity in personal, academic and professional environments.