OpenAI has begun a full global rollout of group chats inside ChatGPT, allowing up to 20 people to collaborate with the chatbot in a shared conversation.
The launch follows a quiet pilot earlier this month and marks one of the clearest signs yet that the company is steering ChatGPT toward something that increasingly resembles a social platform rather than a purely one-on-one AI assistant.
The feature lets users pull friends, family members, and coworkers into the same chat to plan events, build itineraries, brainstorm, or draft projects together while ChatGPT listens in and participates when needed. OpenAI says the system is trained to understand the natural rhythm of multi-person conversations, deciding when to speak and when to hold back so it doesn’t dominate the chat. Users can summon it directly at any moment by mentioning “ChatGPT.”
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A group chat can be created by tapping the “people” icon in the upper corner of the ChatGPT app. The assistant will copy the current conversation into a new group space, where participants can be added through a shareable link that anyone can forward.
The first time a user enters or creates a group chat, ChatGPT prompts them to pick a name, username, and photo to make their identity visible to everyone in the room. ChatGPT can also react to messages with emojis and can use profile photos to create personalized images on request.
Settings for adding or removing members, muting alerts, and applying custom instructions for the assistant are accessible from a dedicated menu. OpenAI stresses that the assistant does not pull from its memory of private one-on-one chats when operating inside a group and will not store new memories based on group conversations.
The experience is powered by GPT-5.1 Auto, which automatically selects the most suitable model available for a user’s prompt. Rate limits only count when ChatGPT sends a message, not when human participants talk among themselves.
The release fits into a pattern of social-leaning features that OpenAI has been rolling out over the past year. Earlier, the company introduced memory for ChatGPT, letting users maintain long-running personal context across conversations. It added “shared GPTs,” which allow users to build and distribute personalized mini-apps inside ChatGPT. It has also been expanding its image-generation, voice-mode, and personalized creativity tools, all intended to anchor users inside an ecosystem where people interact with each other — and with the AI — in increasingly fluid, social ways.
The new group chats extend that strategy by creating a space where many users can operate together, turning ChatGPT from a solitary assistant into something closer to a collaborative hub. For OpenAI, which has been broadening the product beyond simple conversation, this aligns with an emerging vision: a platform where AI sits at the center of shared planning, creation, and communication.
The company’s rapid rollout of new features has been interpreted in the tech industry as an attempt to build a sticky, always-on product experience that rivals the social networks people already use for coordination. With group chats now open to all logged-in users, OpenAI is presenting ChatGPT not just as a tool you talk to, but a place where you and others can gather to work, plan, and create with AI as an active partner.