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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Up to 20 people can now be added to a group chat in ChatGPT.
- The feature is currently available to a select group of global users.
- The chatbot is designed to be less talkative in a group setting.
AI has officially entered the group chat.
On Thursday, OpenAI announced it had begun rolling out an experimental group chat feature for ChatGPT, enabling groups of up to 20 users to collaborate with the chatbot in a single, shared conversation.
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The feature is currently only available to Free, Go, Plus, and Pro users in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan, across web and mobile. However, OpenAI says the limited launch marks “a small first step toward shared experiences in ChatGPT” and that early feedback would determine if and when it’s made available across other regions.
How it could be helpful to users
Infusing ChatGPT into a group chat context aligns with OpenAI’s broader mission of transforming ChatGPT into a general-purpose AI assistant and removing as many barriers to access as possible, so that it becomes a deeply embedded tool in people’s day-to-day lives.
OpenAI has also been working to make its flagship AI chatbot a more active collaborator in the workplace: In September, the company debuted a “shared projects” mode, through which team members can interact with ChatGPT in a shared and secure conversation.
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From a user perspective, ChatGPT would likely be most useful for those sometimes unwieldy group chats where decisions need to be made quickly. If a big group of friends is trying to plan a vacation in a city that none of them have ever visited before, for example, it’s easy to see how AI could provide some helpful assistance and recommendations. Or, if a group of colleagues is trying to get organized before delivering a pitch to a new client, they can collectively leverage ChatGPT in a single chat to help organize their presentation.
This is where ChatGPT’s group chat prowess is likely to shine: as a tool for keeping things moving along. “With group chats, you can bring friends, family, or coworkers into a shared space to plan, make decisions, or work through ideas together,” OpenAI wrote in its announcement.
Of course, many group text chats aren’t oriented toward any particular goal; they’re just a group of friends or colleagues keeping in touch, sharing Spotify links, and so on. And for this kind of more casual group chat, there’s probably not going to be much of an immediate need to get ChatGPT involved; unless, again, some time-sensitive goal comes up, like needing to choose a restaurant reservation that fits everyone’s tastes and schedules.
Group chat etiquette for AI
In a group chat setting, ChatGPT has been designed to be a little less proactive than it is in one-on-one interactions.
“It follows the flow of the conversation and decides when to respond and when to stay quiet based on the context of the group conversation,” according to OpenAI. Users can also reference “ChatGPT” during a conversation, which prompts the chatbot to chime in.
The chatbot’s “memories” of individual users — the details about their lives it’s picked up on and stored from previous interactions — will not be transferred into group chats, meaning that no sensitive personal information will accidentally come to the surface while you’re, say, discussing a work project with your colleagues. OpenAI said that it’s working on customizable memory options for the experimental feature, however, so that users can modify which details about their lives they want the chatbot to be able to reference within a group chat.
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If somebody under the age of 18 enters the chat, “ChatGPT automatically reduces exposure to sensitive content for everyone in the chat,” the company wrote.
Again, this is an experimental feature, and OpenAI may modify ChatGPT’s group chat functionality as it expands. Down the road, for example, the company may decide that it’s more useful (and engaging) to make ChatGPT less of a fly on the wall and more of a conversation-initiator in group chats. Its competitor, Meta, is reportedly already experimenting with AI chatbots that proactively initiate conversations with users.
Regardless of how things shape up over time, OpenAI’s foray into group chats could provide a blueprint for other developers as they simultaneously work to broaden the reach of their own, competing chatbots.
How to access
Users with access to ChatGPT’s new experimental feature can initiate a group chat by clicking an icon in the top-right corner of their screen, which depicts a person with a small plus sign at their shoulder. They can then add others by sharing a link to the chat. Every participant in a group chat will be asked to set up a brief profile, including their name, username, and photo. Group chats are stored in ChatGPT in a clearly delineated section of the sidebar on the left side of users’ screens.
Also: OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 makes ChatGPT ‘warmer’ and smarter – how its upgraded modes work now
ChatGPT’s group chat feature is powered by GPT-5.1 Auto, which adaptively selects between OpenAI’s various models to decide which one is best suited to respond to a particular query.
