ChatGPT is starting to feel a lot more like a social app. OpenAI has begun piloting group chats in a few regions, giving friends, families, and coworkers a way to jump into the same conversation and pull in AI help whenever they need it. It’s an early test, but it already feels like the beginning of something bigger.
The idea is simple. You start a group chat, invite people with a link, and everyone can talk while ChatGPT hangs back until someone calls it in. It can help plan trips, compare restaurants, settle arguments, organize notes, and react with emoji. It tries to behave socially by not butting in unless invited. The feature works on mobile and web for Free, Go, Plus, and Pro users in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan.
OpenAI is positioning this as a collaboration tool for everything from weekend planning to school projects. You can also bring it into more serious workflows, like researching a topic as a group or building out an outline with multiple people contributing. It even spins off a copy of a conversation when new participants join, so your private chats stay private.
Privacy gets special treatment here. Group chats never use your personal memory. They also never add anything to your memory. Teens get stricter filters, and parents can turn group chats off entirely. Everything stays in a clearly labeled section so users know where their shared conversations live.
There is also an elephant in the room. This looks like the kind of thing Slack has been trying to build with AI plugins and shared channels. It is not a replacement today, but if group chats expand and OpenAI leans into teamwork, it is not hard to imagine people planning work projects in ChatGPT instead of juggling Slack workspaces. For some teams, this could be the first step toward using ChatGPT as a lightweight collaboration hub.
As the pilot grows, we will see if users actually want AI sitting in their group conversations or if it ends up feeling like another app trying to do too much. For now, it is a small feature with some big potential.
