OpenAI has officially launched group chats for ChatGPT to all users worldwide, extending the feature across its Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans. The global rollout follows a successful pilot program in select regions, signaling a major evolution for the popular AI assistant.
This new functionality transforms ChatGPT from a one-on-one conversational tool into a dynamic collaborative space. Friends, family, and professional teams can now work together within a single, shared conversation with the AI.
From Solo Assistant To Collaborative Hub
The group chat feature allows up to 20 participants to be added to a conversation via direct invitation or a shared link. OpenAI envisions this as a tool for coordinating trips, co-authoring documents, settling debates, or conducting joint research, with ChatGPT acting as a facilitator to search, summarize, and compare information.
To maintain user privacy, personal settings and conversation memory remain specific to each individual user. While ChatGPT can participate in the conversation, it will generally remain passive unless specifically tagged. Users can directly prompt the AI by tagging “ChatGPT” to receive a response. The AI can also react to messages with emojis and reference user profile photos, adding a more interactive feel to the group dynamic.
It’s important to note that adding a new member to an existing group chat will create an entirely new conversation thread, preserving the original chat’s history.
Implications For The MENA Tech Ecosystem
For the fast-paced MENA startup scene, this feature introduces a powerful new tool for collaboration. Remote and hybrid teams across Dubai, Riyadh, and Cairo can now leverage ChatGPT as a central hub for brainstorming, content creation, and project planning without switching between multiple platforms.
Startups can use group chats to workshop marketing copy with their entire team, while developers can collaborate on code snippets and problem-solving. For VCs and founders, it offers a streamlined way to conduct due diligence research or prepare for pitch meetings, with all stakeholders and relevant AI-generated insights in one place. This move could significantly enhance productivity and creative synergy within the region’s tech companies.
The Strategic Shift Towards A Social Platform
The introduction of group chats is a clear step in OpenAI’s strategy to evolve ChatGPT into more than just a chatbot. The company has stated that this is just the beginning of its push to create a collaborative environment rather than a “single-player experience.”
This development follows the recent launch of GPT-5.1 and OpenAI’s social video generation app, Sora, indicating a broader ambition to integrate its powerful AI models into more social and interactive platforms. The goal is for ChatGPT to eventually play a more active role in group conversations, helping teams plan and execute tasks together seamlessly.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Its mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—AI systems that are generally smarter than humans—benefits all of humanity. The company is known for its pioneering work in large-scale AI models, including the GPT series and the image generator DALL·E.
Source: TechCrunch
