ChatGPT has always been a one-on-one experience -- you and the AI, having a private conversation. But many of the best conversations happen in groups. Team brainstorms, project planning sessions, study groups, creative collaborations.
Group Chats bring that collaborative energy to ChatGPT. You can invite up to 20 people into a shared conversation with ChatGPT, where everyone can contribute, ask questions, and build on each other's ideas -- with AI in the room helping the whole group.
Today you will learn how Group Chats work, when to use them, and what to watch out for.
A Group Chat is a shared ChatGPT conversation where multiple people can participate simultaneously. Everyone in the group can:
- Send messages that ChatGPT and all participants can see
- Ask follow-up questions building on what others have said
- React to and discuss ChatGPT's responses
- Collaborate in real time on brainstorming, planning, and problem-solving
Here is how to start one:
1. Start a new chat in ChatGPT
2. Click the share or invite icon to create a Group Chat
3. Share the link with the people you want to invite
4. Anyone with the link can join (up to 20 participants)
That is it. No accounts to create, no complicated setup. Just a link.
Group Chats work best when multiple perspectives make the output better:
Team brainstorming. Get your team in a Group Chat and brainstorm product features, marketing campaigns, or project ideas. ChatGPT can facilitate the discussion, organize ideas by theme, and help prioritize.
Project planning. Invite your project stakeholders into a Group Chat to define scope, assign tasks, and create timelines. ChatGPT can act as a facilitator, asking the right questions and documenting decisions.
Study groups. Students can join a Group Chat to study together. ChatGPT can quiz the group, explain concepts, and help everyone prepare for exams. Each person's questions benefit the whole group.
Content collaboration. Writers, editors, and designers can workshop content together. ChatGPT can generate drafts, everyone can give feedback, and the AI can revise based on the group's input.
Decision making. When your team needs to evaluate options, a Group Chat lets everyone contribute criteria, weigh pros and cons, and reach a consensus with ChatGPT helping structure the discussion.
There are a few important things to know about how Group Chats handle privacy and data:
No personal memory. ChatGPT does not use its personal memory feature in Group Chats. This means it will not reference things it remembers about you from previous private conversations. This is a deliberate privacy protection -- your personal history stays personal.
Shared visibility. Everything said in a Group Chat is visible to all participants. Do not share sensitive information that you would not want everyone in the group to see.
Link-based access. Anyone with the Group Chat link can join, up to the 20-person limit. Be mindful of where you share the link. If you need more control over who can join, share the link directly rather than posting it publicly.
No file uploads in group context. Group Chats are focused on conversation. For workflows that require shared documents, consider using Projects (Day 16) for structured collaboration and sharing specific threads from those Projects.
Assign a facilitator. One person should guide the conversation and keep it on track. This can be a human participant or you can ask ChatGPT to act as the facilitator.
Set the context up front. Start the Group Chat with a clear description of the goal: "We are here to plan Q3 marketing strategy" or "We are studying for the biology midterm." This helps ChatGPT tailor its responses to the group's purpose.
Take turns for complex questions. In a group setting, rapid-fire messages can get chaotic. For complex topics, take turns so ChatGPT can give thoughtful responses.
Summarize periodically. Ask ChatGPT to summarize the discussion and key decisions so far. This keeps everyone aligned, especially people who join late.