OpenAI has announced a new group chat feature within ChatGPT that can help users collaborate with each other on a specific task. Group chats will be distinct from the private chats and users’ personal ChatGPT memory is never shared with the chat. 

“For example, if you’re 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,” a blog post from OpenAI stated.

Users need to tap on the people icon in the top right corner of a new or existing chat. ChatGPT then creates a copy of the conversation as a new group chat keeping the original conversation separate. 

Users can then invite others by sharing a link with up to twenty people and they can consequently share the link and invite more people. New joinees can offer a name, username and photo for their profile in group chats.

Like other messaging platforms, users can be added or removed and the group chat can be named and muted.

OpenAI also added that ChatGPT can quietly follow the conversation and decide when to chime in. “You can always mention “ChatGPT” in a message when you want it to respond. We’ve also given ChatGPT the ability to react to messages with emojis, and reference profile photos—so it can, for example, use group members’ photos when asked to create fun personalized images within that group conversation,” the blog noted.

Group chats are being rolled out on both the web and mobile versions for ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro subscribers for certain regions including Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan. 

OpenAI has said that they will learn from early user feedback before expanding to other tiers and regions. 

In Delhi’s fast-moving cityscape, comfort in footwear isn’t just a preference, it’s a necessity. Long office commutes mean hours on your feet, crossing busy streets, rushing through metro stations, and navigating uneven sidewalks. A shoe that cushions every step and supports your feet can make the difference between staying energized and ending your day with aches and fatigue. Recognizing these unique challenges, New Balance has crafted the FuelCell Rebel v5 to meet the needs of urban athletes who seek a shoe that delivers speed, comfort, and durability. This trainer combines innovative FuelCell midsole technology with a race-inspired design, creating a shoe that not only looks fast but feels fast and keeps up with India’s constant motion.

I’ve been using the New Balance FuelCell Rebel v5 in this demanding environment, and here is my review.

Design

The FuelCell Rebel v5 embraces a sleek, race-ready aesthetic with a breathable engineered mesh upper and ultra-light bonded FantomFit overlays that lock down the foot securely. Its bold colourblocking and modern silhouette capture a sense of speed and confidence that fits right in with Delhi’s vibrant street style. Comfort features like the padded tongue and redesigned heel collar make long wear during commutes or office transitions pleasant, while a durable rubber outsole with enhanced forefoot coverage tackles the variety of surfaces found in the city, from metro escalators to uneven pavements. Compared to the Adidas Adizero EVO SL, which has a more minimal racing style, the Rebel v5 projects a dynamic personality designed for both the workout and after-hours city grind.

Comfort

Despite carrying more foam than previous versions, the Rebel v5 remains featherlight at approximately 227 grams, allowing it to feel barely there during hectic days of walking and running errands. The PEBA/EVA FuelCell midsole offers firm yet lively cushioning that absorbs the impact of hard surfaces while maintaining enough snap to encourage faster movements when the moment calls for it. The improved heel and tongue cushioning enhance comfort during long commutes, reducing pressure points, though it maintains a slightly firmer ride compared to the cloud-like softness of the Adidas Lightstrike Pro foam. The 6mm drop strikes a comfortable balance, supporting smooth transitions over the varied terrain of an urban environment.

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Running & Workout Performance

The FuelCell Rebel v5 shines in its versatility, transitioning seamlessly from light training sessions to quick bursts of speed on city streets. Its midsole propulsion feels grounded and controlled, favouring stability and durability over extreme softness, perfect for those who want to push a little harder without sacrificing daily comfort. The wider platform and moderate rocker geometry offer better balance and confidence, especially when weaving through traffic or hopping in and out of public transport, while still retaining the essence of a performance trainer. The Adidas EVO SL, by comparison, leans more into lightweight, spread-the-wings racing vibes, ideal for tempo-focused sessions but less suited for prolonged urban wear.

Tech

FuelCell foam, a PEBA/EVA blend, provides a robust and springy platform that feels fast yet protects from repetitive impact stress encountered on hard concrete. The rubberised forefoot outsole enhances grip against slippery metro station floors and street crossings, addressing durability concerns from earlier models. The engineered mesh upper with FantomFit overlays balances lightweight support with breathability, crucial when dealing with Delhi’s variable weather and long walking hours. While the Adidas Lightstrike Pro foam emphasises bounce and a lively feel, the Rebel v5 offers a slightly firmer, more supportive experience that holds up better to urban demands.

Verdict

For someone like me balancing the fast pace of Delhi’s office commute with the need for effective training shoes, the New Balance FuelCell Rebel v5 strikes the perfect chord. It offers more midsole protection and stability than the Adidas Adizero EVO SL, making it versatile enough for the rigours of both city life and dedicated runs. Lightweight yet well-cushioned, with a bold design that stands out confidently among the crowd, it embodies the mantra ‘’look fast, run fast” in every step through the relentless rhythm. It can be purchased around ₹13,999.

Apple and ChatGPT maker OpenAI on Thursday failed to convince a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X Corp accusing them of conspiring to monopolise markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, Texas, said Musk’s social media platform X and startup xAI can move forward for now with their lawsuit, in a preliminary victory for the billionaire entrepreneur in a battle over artificial intelligence dominance.

Pittman said in his brief order that his ruling should not be seen as a judgment on the merits of X’s allegations, and that he will look at disputes over fact at a later stage in the case.

OpenAI in a statement on Thursday called the lawsuit “consistent with Mr Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment and we look forward to proving this in court.”

Apple and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk’s companies claimed in the lawsuit filed in August that Apple has violated antitrust law by exclusively integrating ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence features on iPhones and other Apple devices. The lawsuit alleged Apple had illegally shut out rivals in its partnership with OpenAI.

X and xAI also alleged Apple reinforced the exclusivity by featuring ChatGPT on its “Must-Have Apps” list while sidelining rivals in the App Store. Apple, in seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, said its OpenAI deal is not exclusive and that the complaint fails to allege any agreement barring Apple from working with other chatbots.

“Choosing one partner first is not unlawful,” Apple told the court.

Apple denied any anticompetitive conduct, telling the court that other chatbots remain available through browsers and apps, and X and Grok rank high in App Store charts.

OpenAI, in responding to the lawsuit, accused Musk of waging “a campaign of lawfare” against OpenAI and ChatGPT. Musk is separately suing OpenAI and its leaders in a federal court in California.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history in the months following its launch in late 2022.

Musk’s xAI acquired X in March for $33 billion to enhance its chatbot training capabilities. Musk has also integrated the Grok chatbot into vehicles made by his electric vehicle company, Tesla.

Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, is in early talks to raise a new funding round at a roughly $50 billion valuation, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

The startup was last valued at $12 billion in July, after it raised about $2 billion.

Some sources told Bloomberg that Thinking Machines is looking at a valuation of about $50 billion, while others said it could rise to closer to $55 billion or $60 billion.

The deal terms have not yet been finalized and could change, the report added.

Thinking Machines did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The development follows a Wall Street Journal report last month that said Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines, left the AI company to join Meta Platforms.

It launched its first product called Tinker, which helps fine-tune language models in October.

Spain’s ACS is close to striking a 23 billion euro ($26.8 billion) partnership with BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners to develop data centres, newspaper Expansion reported on Thursday, citing unnamed market sources.

Under this agreement, the U.S. asset manager GIP is set to take a 50% stake in the ACS Digital & Energy unit, Expansion said, consisting of 5 billion euros in equity capital – to be contributed progressively – and 18 billion euros in debt.

ACS and BlackRock declined to comment, while GIP did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

The report comes as surging demand for AI computing and limited power capacity is driving valuations for digital infrastructure to record levels.

ACS had targeted its data centre business to reach a valuation of between 3 billion and 5 billion euros by 2030. The reported partnership with GIP would price it at the high end of that range.

The Spanish construction company is set to update its data centre strategy at an investor day on Friday.

GIP, which manages more than $180 billion in assets globally, last month participated in the $40 billion acquisition of U.S. data centre firm Aligned along with Microsoft and Nvidia.

Major tech companies are on track to spend $400 billion on AI infrastructure this year, according to Morgan Stanley estimates.

Amazon is joining Microsoft in backing legislation to further curb chipmaker Nvidia’s ability to export chips to China, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The legislation, known as the GAIN AI Act, is also backed by AI startup Anthropic, the report said.

Short for Guaranteeing Access and Innovation for National Artificial Intelligence (GAIN), the Act was introduced as part of the National Defense Authorization Act and stipulates that AI chipmakers prioritise domestic orders for advanced processors before supplying them to foreign customers.

Microsoft publicly came out in favor of the legislation, while officials at Amazon’s cloud unit have privately told Senate staffers that they also support it, the report said.

Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google have not taken a position on the Act, and neither has U.S. President Donald Trump, the report added.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Amazon, Microsoft, and Anthropic did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Nvidia, the world’s dominant chipmaker, has previously said the GAIN AI Act stands to restrict global competition for advanced chips, limiting computing power available to other countries.

The touted legislation reflects Washington’s attempt to prioritise American needs amid fears that China would leverage access to high-end AI capabilities to supercharge its military.

European Union regulators said Thursday they’re investigating whether Google is unfairly demoting some content from media publishers in search results under a policy the company says is aimed at combating scammers.

Brussels moved forward despite the risk of incurring the wrath of President Donald Trump, who has lashed out at the 27-nation bloc’s digital regulations and vowed to retaliate if American tech companies are penalised.

The investigation could result in the latest multibillion-euro fine for the U.S. digital giant from the European Commission, which is the bloc’s highest antitrust enforcer.

“We are concerned that Google’s policies do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner in its search results,” said Teresa Ribera, an executive vice-president at the Commission.

“We will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry, and to ensure Google complies with the Digital Markets Act,” Ribera added, referring to the bloc’s sweeping rulebook designed to stop tech companies from monopolising digital markets.

The commission, the EU’s executive branch, said it had received indications that Google is demoting certain search results according to its site reputation abuse policy.

But Google said the policy protects European users from “deceptive, low quality content and scams” and “shady tactics” used to promote them so that they show up in search results.

Pandu Nayak, chief scientist at Google Search, said in a blog post that the company said it’s trying to prevent spammers from abusing search results by buying paid-for content on a publisher’s website to trick readers into clicking on low-quality content.

Nayak said the investigation was misguided and without merit.

“Unfortunately, the investigation announced today into our anti-spam efforts is entirely misguided and risks harming millions of European users,” Google Search’s chief scientist, Pandu Nayak, said in a blog post.

“If we allowed this behavior — letting sites use sketchy tactics to boost their ranking, instead of investing in creating high-quality content — it would enable bad actors to displace sites that don’t use those spammy tactics, and it would degrade Search for everyone,” Nayak said.

But the Commission said the policy hurts “a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetize their websites and content” and could violate the DMA’s rules requiring digital gatekeepers like Google to treat other businesses fairly.

The EU drew outrage from Trump in September, when it fined Google 2.95 billion euro ($3.5 billion) for breaching the 27-nation bloc’s competition rules by favouring its own digital advertising services. It was the fourth time Brussels has sanctioned Google with a multibillion-euro fine in an antitrust case, in a wider battle with between the EU and Big Tech that dates back to 2017.

The EU’s new investigation must conclude within 12 months. It could fine Google parent Alphabet 10% or more of annual global revenue. The Commission said it could even dismantle and sell off parts of its business.

France has lifted its travel ban on Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who is under investigation over illegal content on his messaging app, judicial sources close to the case said Thursday.

The Russian-born entrepreneur, 41, was detained in Paris in 2024 and is under formal investigation by French authorities over the platform’s alleged complicity in criminal activity.

Durov, who was initially banned from leaving France, had his judicial control relaxed in July, allowing him to reside in the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is based, for a maximum of two weeks at a time.

Now authorities have fully lifted his travel ban, and he is no longer required to report to police in the southern city of Nice.

For the past year, Durov “has fully complied with his judicial supervision,” the judicial source told AFP, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Durov, who holds French and Russian passports, has been accused of complicity in running an online platform that allowed illicit transactions, images of child sex abuse and other illegal content.

During initial questioning in December 2024, the tech entrepreneur acknowledged a growing criminal presence on the platform and pledged to strengthen content oversight.

But Durov has accused French authorities of failing to follow proper legal procedures when submitting content moderation inquiries.

He has denied the allegations and condemned his arrest as doing “massive damage to France’s image as a free country”.

His lawyers declined to comment when contacted by AFP.