According to TechCrunch, OpenAI announced on Thursday that ChatGPT is launching group chats globally to all users across Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans. The feature allows up to 20 people to collaborate with each other and ChatGPT in shared conversations, turning the AI from a one-on-one assistant into a collaborative space. Users can start group chats by tapping the people icon and adding participants directly or via shareable links, with everyone creating short profiles including names and photos. The launch comes just a week after pilot testing in select regions like Japan and New Zealand, and less than two weeks after the GPT-5.1 model launch. OpenAI says ChatGPT knows when to jump in during conversations and can be tagged for responses, plus it can react with emojis and reference profile photos while keeping personal settings and memory private to each user.
The social platform pivot
Here’s the thing: OpenAI is clearly trying to transform ChatGPT from a simple chatbot into something much more ambitious. They’re calling it a “collaborative environment” rather than a “single-player experience.” But honestly, does the world really need another social platform? We’ve got Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, and about a dozen other group chat apps already. The question isn’t whether ChatGPT can do group chats – it’s whether people will actually use it for that purpose when they already have established workflows elsewhere.
Privacy and practical concerns
Now, OpenAI says personal settings and memory stay private to each user, which is good. But I’m skeptical about how this works in practice. When you’re dealing with 20 people in a chat with an AI that has access to everyone’s inputs, the potential for data leakage or accidental information sharing seems pretty high. And the fact that adding someone to an existing chat creates a completely new conversation? That could get messy fast for ongoing projects. Basically, it feels like they’re solving technical problems without fully considering the human behavior aspects.
The bigger picture timing
This announcement comes right on the heels of GPT-5.1 and follows September’s Sora social app launch. OpenAI is clearly building out an ecosystem, not just improving a chatbot. They want ChatGPT to be the center of your digital life – your personal assistant, your creative partner, and now your group collaboration hub. But here’s my concern: are they spreading themselves too thin? Building great AI is hard enough. Building great social platforms is arguably even harder. Just ask Google, who’s failed at social repeatedly despite massive resources.
The company says this is “just the beginning” of ChatGPT becoming more collaborative, and they envision it playing “a more active role in real group conversations.” That sounds ambitious, but I wonder if users actually want their AI to be more active in group settings. Sometimes you just want to talk to people without an AI chiming in. The emoji reactions and profile photo references feel like they’re trying a bit too hard to be human. It’s like that awkward coworker who tries to be cool but just comes across as trying too hard.
Where this might actually work
Look, I’ll admit there are some use cases where this could be genuinely useful. Brainstorming sessions, research collaboration, or planning complex projects where having an AI assistant to quickly search, summarize, and compare options could save time. But for casual friend groups or family chats? I’m not convinced. Most people don’t need an AI mediator for deciding where to eat dinner or planning a vacation. The real test will be whether businesses adopt this for workplace collaboration – though even there, they’re competing with established tools that already have AI integrations.
At the end of the day, this feels like another feature that sounds cool in a press release but might struggle to find its place in people’s actual daily routines. OpenAI is throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Sometimes that strategy works brilliantly. Other times, you end up with a bunch of features nobody really uses. We’ll have to wait and see which category group chats fall into.
