ChatGPT Group Chats Release

OpenAI has launched group chats in ChatGPT, enabling users to collaborate with other people and the AI in a single shared conversation. This feature allows groups of up to 20 people to plan, research, and make decisions together in a unified space.

Collaborative Capabilities

Group chats provide a shared environment for personal and professional collaboration. Users can utilize ChatGPT to compare destinations and build itineraries for travel, collaborate on design ideas for home projects, or act as an impartial referee for group debates. In professional or academic settings, the group chat allows multiple users to share articles, notes, and questions while ChatGPT summarizes and organize the information to help draft outlines or research new topics.

Technical Implementation and Model Logic

Group chats are powered by GPT-5.1 Auto, which dynamically selects the most appropriate model based on the prompt and the specific plan (Free, Go, Plus, or Pro) of the user ChatGPT is responding to.

Key Functional Features

  • Multi-modal Support: Search, image and file upload, image generation, and dictation are fully enabled within group chats.
  • Rate Limits: Rate limits apply only to responses generated by ChatGPT. Messages exchanged between human users do not count toward these limits. A response from ChatGPT counts against the limit of the user it is responding to.
  • Social Behaviors: ChatGPT is programmed with new social behaviors to determine when to respond or remain silent based on the conversation flow. Users can force a response by mentioning "ChatGPT" in a message.
  • Interactive Elements: The AI can react to messages using emojis and reference user profile photos to create personalized images within the group.

User Experience and Management

To initiate a group chat, users tap the people icon in the top right corner of a new or existing chat. If an existing chat is added to a group, ChatGPT creates a copy of the conversation to keep the original private chat separate.

Group Administration

  • Invitations: Users can invite between one and twenty people via a shared link.
  • Profiles: Users set up a short profile including a name, username, and photo upon joining their first group chat.
  • Controls: Group settings allow users to name the group, add or remove participants, and mute notifications. Custom instructions can be set for each specific group chat to dictate the AI's tone or personality.
  • Navigation: Group chats are located in a dedicated, labeled section of the sidebar.

Privacy and Safety Safeguards

OpenAI has implemented specific boundaries to ensure user privacy and control within shared spaces:

  • Memory Isolation: Group chats are entirely separate from private conversations. Personal ChatGPT memory is not used within group chats, and the AI does not create new memories from these interactions.
  • Access Control: Users must explicitly accept an invitation to join a group chat. Participants can leave at any time, and group members can remove other participants (though the group creator can only be removed by leaving the chat themselves).
  • Youth Safety: For users under 18, ChatGPT automatically reduces exposure to sensitive content for all participants in the chat. Parents or guardians can disable the group chat feature entirely via parental controls.

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