ChatGPT launches pilot group chats across Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan

Open AI on Introduced on Thursday a group chat feature for ChatGPT. The feature, which is currently being tested in select regions including Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan, will allow users to collaborate directly within the app.

The group chat is available to free, plus and team users on both mobile and web platforms. OpenAI says the pilot is designed to explore how people use group conversations in ChatGPT.

The announcement comes next previous reports that OpenAI had tested a direct message style tool.

The ChatGPT creator describes this pilot as just a “small first step” toward creating a more “shared experience” in the app. Early users will be invited to provide feedback, which the company says will help determine how the feature is ultimately expanded to more regions and offerings.

According to OpenAI, private chats and personal ChatGPT memory remain completely private. Group chats are by invitation only and members can leave at any time. Most participants can remove others, although the group creator can only leave voluntarily. For users under 18, content is filtered, with extra security measures and parental controls.

Starting a group chat is easy. Just tap the People icon and add participants directly or by sharing a link. Groups can consist of one to twenty people. Adding someone to an existing chat creates a new group, leaving the original conversation unchanged. Each group has a short profile and all chats are organized in a labeled sidebar for easy access.

Group chats work just like regular ChatGPT conversations, but with multiple people. GPT‑5.1 Automatic handles responses and comes with features like search, image generation, file uploading, and dictation. In group chats, ChatGPT usage limits – which limit how many AI responses users can receive per hour – only count if ChatGPT responds. Messages between human participants do not count toward these limits.

ChatGPT has learned new social skills for group chats, knowing when to jump in and when to stay quiet. You can tag ‘ChatGPT’ to make it responsive. It can also respond with emojis and use profile photos to create personalized images for the conversation.

The group chat feature represents the latest step in OpenAI’s gradual transformation from a simple AI assistant to something akin to a social platform. In late September, the company launched Sora 2, a standalone social media app with a TikTok-like feed for sharing AI-generated videos, complete with algorithmic recommendations based on user activity and location, parental controls and direct messaging capabilities.