Business & Markets

OpenAI pilots ChatGPT group chats in Asia-Pacific

OpenAI has introduced pilot group chat functionality in ChatGPT across Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan, enabling collaborative conversations with GPT-5.1 Auto.

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15 Nov 2025 — 1 min read

Photo by Levart_Photographer / Unsplash

OpenAI has begun piloting a group chat feature in ChatGPT across Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan. The capability allows invitation-only, collaborative AI conversations with up to 20 participants, powered by GPT-5.1 Auto.

What happened

On November 14, 2025, OpenAI launched a pilot of group chat within ChatGPT in the Asia-Pacific markets of Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan. It is available to Free, Plus, Team and Pro users via web and mobile platforms. Group chats support 1 to 20 participants and are invitation-only; members can leave at any time and most participants can remove others, while the creator can only exit voluntarily. Under-18 participants get filtered content and additional parental controls. The AI assistant, GPT-5.1 Auto, handles responses, supports search, image generation, file uploads, dictation, and maintains privacy of personal chats and memory. In group chats, the AI responds when tagged and can react with emojis and profile-based images.

Context

This pilot marks OpenAI’s shift toward more social, shared use of its AI tools. It arrives after the company launched Sora 2, a social media app with AI-generated short-form video features and messaging. It also follows broader expansion of ChatGPT capabilities such as in-app apps, deep-research agents, study mode, and integrations with external services.

Why it matters

The group chat pilot moves ChatGPT toward a collaborative platform model, beyond individual interactions. It opens possibilities for shared decision-making, brainstorming, planning or group work augmented by AI. Invitation-only controls and privacy protection signal OpenAI’s effort to balance collaboration with safety.

What’s next

OpenAI will collect feedback from early users in these regions to inform how the feature may roll out more broadly. Its extension to additional countries, user tiers or enterprise offerings will depend on learnings from this pilot phase.

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