OpenAI Launches Baffling ‘Group Chats,’ So You and Your Friends Can Hang Out with ChatGPT

OpenAI has launched a new feature that is destined to leave some users scratching their heads. This week, the company announced a pilot of a new “group chats†feature in ChatGPT that allows users to get their buddies together and hang out with the company’s flagship chatbot. That’s what everybody’s been wanting, right?

“Group chats in ChatGPT are now rolling out globally,†the company tweeted Thursday. “After a successful pilot with early testers, group chats will now be available to all logged-in users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans.†To use the feature, users simply tap the people icon in the upper right-hand corner of the app, which allows them to add as many as 20 different users.

Why would you want to do this? In a blog post, OpenAI provides several hypothetical scenarios to explain why having your group conversations in its app might prove helpful. For instance, you may be “planning a weekend trip with friends, create a group chat so ChatGPT can help compare destinations, build an itinerary, and create a packing list with everyone participating and following along,†the blog says.

Then there’s a workplace scenario, in which groups of workers could hypothetically use ChatGPT to collaborate in a Slack-like environment and use the chatbot as a part-time assistant. “Group chats also make collaboration at work or school easier,†the company said. “You can draft an outline or research a new topic together. Share articles, notes, and questions, and ChatGPT can help summarize and organize information.â€

While OpenAI has offered the most idealistic vision of this particular feature, you can easily imagine it being used in other, significantly less benevolent ways. The first thing that springs to my mind is groups of teenagers getting together to mercilessly cyberbully OpenAI’s chatbot. Teens like to bully, and they especially like to bully things that can’t fight back—which ChatGPT most assuredly can’t (for what it’s worth, OpenAI says that there are age-related content safeguards for users under 18). Another scenario you can easily imagine is group chats in which your most annoying friend uses the chatbot to fact-check everybody’s assertions in real-time until you boot him out of the convo.

OpenAI claims to have also instituted some privacy controls for its new feature. “Your personal ChatGPT memory is not used in group chats, and ChatGPT does not create new memories from these conversations,†the company says. “We’re exploring offering more granular controls in the future so you can choose if and how ChatGPT uses memory with group chats.â€

What “group chats†really seem aimed to do is help OpenAI transform ChatGPT into a more social, less isolating platform—one that better mirrors the user experience of social media platforms like Facebook and X rather than a traditional chatbot. “Group chats are just the beginning of ChatGPT becoming a shared space to collaborate and interact with others,†the company says. “As ChatGPT becomes an even better partner in group conversations, it will help you spark ideas, make decisions, and express your creativity with the people who matter most in your life.†I guess we’ll see about that.