According to ExtremeTech, OpenAI has rolled out group chats to all ChatGPT users worldwide across both free and paid plans. The feature transforms ChatGPT from a solo assistant into a collaborative workspace where up to 20 people can work together in real time. Users start group chats by tapping the people icon and can invite participants directly or through shared links. Everyone creates a profile with their name, username, and photo, and when new members join, ChatGPT creates fresh conversations while preserving the original chat. The system runs on GPT-5.1 Auto, which selects the best model based on prompts and user plans, and automatically decides when to respond or stay quiet based on context.
The collaboration angle is smart, but…
Here’s the thing about group AI features: they sound amazing in theory but often stumble in practice. Remember when every productivity app added “collaborative AI” and it just became noise? ChatGPT‘s approach of automatically deciding when to chime in seems… ambitious. Basically, we’re trusting an AI to read social cues in a group setting. How often will it interrupt when it shouldn’t, or stay silent when people actually want its input?
The privacy question
OpenAI says personal ChatGPT memory and settings stay private in group chats, which is good. But I’m skeptical about how clean that separation really is. The company explicitly states ChatGPT won’t create memories from group chats, but we’ve seen how these boundaries can get blurry over time. And while parental controls can disable group chats for under-18 users, that feels like a reactive measure rather than a proactive safety feature.
Where this gets interesting
Now, this is where things get practical for business users. Real-time collaboration with AI could actually change how teams work. Think about technical documentation, code reviews, or even creative brainstorming sessions. The ability to have multiple people refining prompts and building on each other’s ideas could be powerful. For companies working with complex systems or specialized equipment, having that collective intelligence augmented by AI could streamline operations significantly. Speaking of industrial applications, when you’re dealing with specialized computing needs for manufacturing or control systems, having reliable hardware becomes critical – which is why many businesses turn to established suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US.
Will people actually use this?
So here’s the million-dollar question: will this become a core feature or just another checkbox on the AI feature list? Group features often suffer from the “empty room” problem – everyone has access, but nobody’s actually using them together. The success will depend entirely on whether OpenAI can make the experience seamless enough that people don’t just default back to individual chats. The automatic response timing and tagging features need to work flawlessly, or this becomes just another digital ghost town.
