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Group Chats With ChatGPT Are Rolling Out Globally

OpenAI wants you to collaborate with its chatbot in a group setting.

Last week, OpenAI — always looking for opportunities to put its chatbot into new spaces — introduced Group Chats with ChatGPT baked right in. Based on early feedback, it’s now expanding the feature to all logged-in users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans globally over the coming days. 

The feature is pitched as a new way to use ChatGPT with other people, especially in collaboration efforts, like planning a big event. 

Up to 20 people can be added to a group chat, and messages between individuals don’t count against the rate limit to ChatGPT — only when it responds. 

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Group chats use ChatGPT-5.1 Auto. OpenAI has also introduced some new implementations of how and when the chatbot responds. It’s been taught new social behaviors for group chats and will apparently follow the flow of the conversation and stay quiet or chime in based on what’s being said. 

Adding «ChatGPT» to a message you send will always yield a response from the AI chatbot. You can also provide custom instructions to ChatGPT for the entire chat if you want it to reply in a certain tone or personality, and it can react to messages with emoji.


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Group Chats don’t use memory from your existing personal chats, and new memory isn’t created from group conversations, though OpenAI says it’s exploring a way for you to opt in to use existing memory in the future.

If you’re concerned that you’ll be thrown into a dozen chats without your permission, then you’ll likely be happy to hear that you must accept an invitation before you can be added to a group chat with ChatGPT. Additional safeguards are also in place for users under the age of 18, which will reduce sensitive content to all within the group chat.

OpenAI says Group Chats are the beginning of its effort to make ChatGPT more of a shared and collaborative space for people. 

Technologies

Your Next Vacation Starts in a Chat: TripAdvisor Debuts App Inside ChatGPT

You can tap AI and TripAdvisor for your travel planning.

You may already use artificial intelligence for planning vacations, but now you can use a new TripAdvisor app inside of ChatGPT to book hotels. The app puts TripAdvisor’s reviews and hotel insights directly into ChatGPT. It’s «a new AI-powered way to experience the best of TripAdvisor,» according to the travel company

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Using the app, trip planners can see top-rated TripAdvisor hotels on an interactive map. They can also read TripAdvisor review summaries, access details about hotels, including images and amenities, and refine results with conversational follow-ups.

Once a would-be traveler selects a hotel, they’ll see available deals from booking sites. When they choose one, they will be redirected to TripAdvisor or one of its partners to complete the booking.


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The new app is available to logged-in ChatGPT users in the US on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans. You can start using it by opening ChatGPT, navigating to Settings, then Apps & Connectors, and Browse Apps and connect to TripAdvisor. (You should only have to follow these steps once.)  Then, and on subsequent visits, simply start your message in ChatGPT with the word TripAdvisor.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 21, #424

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 21, No. 424.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.


Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a fun one. If you know a Gen Z person, you might be familiar with their favorite nonsense phrase, «6-7.» The puzzle editors throw a 6 and a 7 into the puzzle today just to see if we’re paying attention. Do the numbers end up in the same group? I bet you know the answer to that one. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Splish-splash.

Green group hint: Football score.

Blue group hint: Colorado QB.

Purple group hint: Not small.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Four primary swimming strokes.

Green group: Touchdown.

Blue group: Associated with John Elway.

Purple group: Big ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is four primary swimming strokes. The four answers are back, breast, fly and free.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is touchdown. The four answers are 6, paydirt, TD and tuddy.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with John Elway. The four answers are 7, Broncos, No. 1 pick and Stanford.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Big ____. The four answers are 12, dance, leagues and ten.

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Technologies

I Use AirTags Everywhere and They’re Only $16 Each in a 4-Pack for Black Friday

This record-low price for Apple AirTags is still in effect. Get ’em while you can.

Holidays are full of travel and tech devices, and the two don’t always mix perfectly, especially if you’re forgetful. If you’re looking for an easy way to find that tablet you left in the airport lounge, Apple AirTags are a great solution for keys, wallets or even your luggage.

Right now, four-packs of Apple AirTags are still on sale for just $65. That’s a 34% discount off the usual price of $99, bringing each one down to just over $16. Black Friday is a great time to stock up on these endlessly useful devices while they’re at a record-low price.


Not long ago, as I waited at baggage claim after a trip to Paris, I became increasingly nervous as bag after bag dropped onto the carousel, none of them mine. I knew there was no need to panic, though.

Back at Charles de Gaulle airport, I had dropped a sophisticated little tracking device into my trusty rolling suitcase before handing it over and heading to my gate. So, I pulled out my iPhone, and with just a few taps, I could see that my bag had never left the City of Light. (Merde!)

Over the last few years, I’ve come to depend on Apple’s AirTags to keep track of my easy-to-lose valuables. They’re not just good for luggage, I use them to track wallets, bikes, keys and even my car. I tell everyone who will listen that you can never have too many of these handy devices. 

And just because they’re an Apple product doesn’t mean they are super expensive. As mentioned, you can get a four-pack of AirTags for $65. And if you want to buy a single one, that’s discounted by 14%, down to $25

Here’s how the Apple AirTag (like the one that was in my suitcase on that fateful trip) works. It uses an ingenious method of tracking itself, detecting its location from nearby iPhones and using them to anonymously piggyback the coordinates to a secure server where I could look it up on my iPhone. Until just a few years ago, this would have seemed like a scene straight out of a spy movie.

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Instead of wondering if my belongings were stuck on an abandoned luggage cart or strewn across the tarmac, I could see in almost real time that my suitcase was still chilling at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. I was able to calmly tell the airline my bag didn’t make the flight, and it made arrangements to have it delivered to me a few days later.

Apple AirTags are all about peace of mind

By itself, an AirTag isn’t much. A smooth, round, 1.26-inch puck that looks like a glossy white breath mint, it sinks to the bottom of a bag or dangles from a key chain (with a compatible key ring, sold separately). It’s meant to disappear.

Activating the AirTag was a simple process of pairing with my iPhone. And then, because it obviously doesn’t really do anything out of the box, I forgot about it.

But the next time I couldn’t find my keys? Sorcery. My iPhone didn’t just tell me they were somewhere nearby — it walked me directly to them, thanks to the AirTag’s built-in Ultra Wideband chip. Suddenly, all that time I’d spent retracing my steps and overturning couch cushions in the past felt like ancient history.

Now I have AirTags in or attached to every significant item I’d want to keep track of: My everyday laptop bag, my camera backpack, the suitcase I use most when traveling, my key chain, my car and a smaller sling bag I take on walks. I can pull up the Find My app on any of my Apple devices (or sign in to iCloud on any web browser) and see where my items are and the last time the AirTags registered their locations.

AirTags aren’t just for my everyday items. People I know in the movie business tell me that AirTags are tossed into nearly every bag and Pelican crate, not solely to ensure that the valuable equipment inside doesn’t walk away but also to quickly differentiate equipment amid similar-looking containers. Some of my friends also attach AirTags to their pets’ collars (though experts say there are better ways to track your pets).

AirTags are also useful for things that you want to keep close by

Being able to detect my luggage a continent away provided a sense of relief, to be sure. But at the local level, my AirTags will also trigger an alert when I get too far away from them. For example, if I accidentally forget my camera bag in the car when I stop somewhere for lunch, a Find My notification appears telling me I’ve left it behind. It works the same for newer AirPods models as well.

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Sharing is now a big part of AirTag tracking

My family has two cars, and I wanted to be able to track them both. But it used to be inconvenient to pair the AirTag in the car my wife drives to her iPhone (and the one in my car to my iPhone).

To guard against unwanted tracking, an AirTag will notify nearby iPhones of its existence, so whenever I drove my wife’s car without her in it, I got a notification that an AirTag was traveling with me. (If the owner is near the AirTag, the alert does not appear.)

However, ever since the release of iOS 17, AirTags are shareable, which solves this problem. I shared my AirTag with my wife, and she with me, so regardless of which car I’m driving, I can find it more easily in a crowded parking lot without getting constant, unnecessary alerts. 

A more recent feature is the ability to temporarily share an AirTag’s location with someone I trust. In my luggage example above, if the suitcase was in the airport with me, but the airport’s staff hadn’t yet been able to locate it (not uncommon during peak travel times), I could share its location with an attendant who could quickly retrieve it from areas inaccessible to the public.

Apple AirTag specs

  • Diameter: 1.26 inches (31.9 mm)
  • Height: 0.31 inches (8 mm)
  • Weight: 0.39 ounces (11 g)
  • Splash, water and dust resistance: Rated IP67 (maximum depth of 1 meter up to 30 minutes)
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
  • Battery: Replaceable CR2032 coin cell battery

The only minor annoyance about AirTags

An AirTag includes Bluetooth, the U1 Ultra Wideband chip and an NFC chip to share basic details when it’s in Lost Mode. That’s all powered by a CR2032 coin cell battery, which in my experience lasts roughly a year before I need to replace it.

I get notified when a battery is starting to get low, although there’s no gauge to see how much is left until it goes into the red. And it’s easy to change batteries. But my small fleet of AirTags means I need to swap multiple ones each year. I buy them in packs of 20 that I slowly work through.

AirTags also make great gifts

Apple AirTags consistently appear in our gift guides throughout the year because you can always find another use for one. They’re often reduced in price when sold in packs of four. And there’s an ever-growing ecosystem of ways to mount them, from sturdy vaults that adhere to a car to discrete fabric holders that will keep your favorite classic bomber jacket from flying away. Whenever I show someone how I use AirTags on a bag or keychain, I kind of wish I had a pocket full of AirTags to hand out because once someone sees how it works, they’re sold.

When will this deal expire?

We don’t know how long this deal will last. So if you know you want to pick some up, I recommend placing your order while you can be sure to get this price, because I’m confident you’ll find new uses for them once you have a few.

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