OpenAI has rolled out group chat functionality inside ChatGPT, marking a clear shift from individual AI use toward shared, collaborative interactions. With this update, logged-in users can invite up to 20 people into a single conversation with ChatGPT, turning the tool into a shared workspace rather than a one-to-one assistant. After a short pilot phase, the feature is now broadly available and positions ChatGPT as a more practical option for everyday planning, coordination, and early-stage teamwork.
At a surface level, OpenAI presents group chats as a simple way for friends, families, or colleagues to plan things together, such as organising a trip, coordinating a meal, or outlining ideas. However, the deeper impact may be felt in professional environments where teams already rely on ChatGPT for brainstorming, research, drafting, and decision support. By bringing multiple people and AI into the same conversation, OpenAI is testing how AI can sit naturally inside real group dynamics.
How ChatGPT group chats work
Creating a group chat starts by selecting the people icon in the top-right corner of the ChatGPT interface. This action turns an existing conversation into a shared space that can be accessed by others through an invite link. The link can be forwarded, allowing participants to bring additional members into the discussion until the group limit is reached.
When users first join or create a group chat, they are asked to set a display name, username, and profile photo so conversations remain clear and human-readable. OpenAI has designed ChatGPT to follow the flow of group discussions, meaning it will not interrupt every exchange. Instead, it responds when appropriate, and users can directly prompt it by mentioning “ChatGPT” in their message. The assistant can also visually participate by reacting and using profile photos when generating personalised images, making its presence feel more integrated rather than mechanical.
A dedicated settings panel allows participants to manage the group by adding or removing people, muting notifications, or providing custom instructions that guide how ChatGPT behaves within that specific conversation. Importantly, OpenAI has clarified that personal chat memories are not used inside group chats, and no new long-term memories are created from group activity, addressing early concerns around shared data and privacy boundaries.
From a technical standpoint, group chats operate on GPT-5.1 Auto, which dynamically selects the most suitable response model based on the prompt and the hookup options available to the user. Usage limits only apply when ChatGPT itself sends messages, not when people interact with each other. This update follows the recent release of GPT-5.1 Instant and Thinking models, along with OpenAI’s earlier launch of Sora, highlighting a broader push toward more flexible, context-aware AI experiences in 2025.
Why group chats matter for real collaboration
While the feature is marketed with casual use cases in mind, its strongest value may emerge in work environments where coordination and clarity often slow teams down. Many organisational challenges come not from a lack of ideas, but from scattered conversations, delayed feedback, and missing context. Group chats attempt to address these issues by giving teams one shared AI-assisted space.
Keeping cross-functional teams aligned
In larger organisations, it is common for product, design, engineering, and marketing teams to discuss the same project across multiple tools and channels. Early ideas often end up fragmented in emails, chat apps, and documents. A shared ChatGPT group chat allows everyone to contribute in one place. If someone joins late or misses a discussion, ChatGPT can summarise the conversation, highlight unresolved questions, and help convert loose ideas into a more structured plan. This reduces the risk of losing context during the transition from brainstorming to execution.
Improving review and feedback cycles
Review processes are often slowed by long feedback loops, version confusion, and asynchronous comments. In a group chat, teams can review the same draft together and respond in real time or over a short window. ChatGPT can rewrite sections, compare alternative versions, and clarify feedback, making it easier to converge on a final version. This can be particularly useful for teams working under tight deadlines or handling frequent updates.
Faster onboarding for new team members
New hires or project contributors typically spend days or weeks catching up on past decisions. By adding a new member to an existing group chat, a manager can ask ChatGPT to summarise earlier discussions, explain why key choices were made, and outline what tasks are still pending. This approach can significantly reduce onboarding time and help new teammates become productive faster.
Coordinating shared tasks more efficiently
Everyday coordination tasks, such as planning internal workshops, drafting shared emails, or preparing event schedules, often involve repeated back-and-forth. In a group chat, anyone can ask ChatGPT to create timelines, draft messages, generate checklists, or compare options. The group can then refine the output together, avoiding the need to restart conversations each time something changes.
Bringing structure to creative feedback
Creative projects frequently stall because feedback arrives in unstructured or conflicting forms. Designers, writers, and analysts may receive comments scattered across multiple platforms. Group chats centralise all feedback in one place. ChatGPT can cluster comments into themes, flag contradictions, and propose revised drafts that reflect the group’s overall direction, helping teams reduce rework and reach alignment sooner.
A broader shift in team-based AI use
The launch of ChatGPT group chats reflects a wider trend in how organisations are experimenting with AI in daily workflows. Until now, ChatGPT has largely supported individual tasks like drafting, summarising, and rewriting. Introducing shared conversations adds a collaborative layer that may shape how early project discussions and planning sessions evolve.
Group chats are not a replacement for human decision-making, but they create a shared surface where people and AI can work side by side. For teams struggling with scattered inputs, slow reviews, or constant context-switching, this feature may offer a more streamlined way to keep momentum. As companies continue exploring practical AI adoption in 2025, ChatGPT group chats suggest a future where AI is not just a personal assistant, but an active participant in collective thinking and planning.
