How to Use ChatGPT Shared Projects: From Shadow AI to Shared Intelligence

Your team is already using ChatGPT.

• Sales reps build account research in private chats.
• Product managers draft roadmaps solo.
• Executives analyze market data in isolation.

Everyone gets value, but no one sees what anyone else is learning.

This is shadow AI: powerful individual work happening in disconnected silos.

ChatGPT shared projects change this. Instead of forwarding chat links or copying outputs into Slack, teams now collaborate directly inside ChatGPT, sharing context, building on each other's work, and turning isolated AI experiments into shared intelligence.

Launched in late September 2025 for ChatGPT Business and Enterprise customers, shared projects let you invite teammates into a dedicated workspace where everyone can see conversations, upload files, and branch discussions in different directions.

Think of it as moving from individual ChatGPT sessions to a team workspace, but without losing the speed and flexibility that makes ChatGPT useful in the first place.

This guide shows you exactly how to create your first shared project, when to use projects versus custom GPTs, and how to overcome the biggest barrier teams face: the uncertainty of making your ChatGPT conversations visible to colleagues.

What Are ChatGPT Shared Projects?

A shared project is a dedicated workspace inside ChatGPT where multiple people collaborate on the same topic with shared context.

Here's what makes projects different from regular ChatGPT conversations:

Shared context, isolated memory
Projects maintain their own memory separate from your personal ChatGPT history. ChatGPT only references information explicitly added to the project - uploaded files, project instructions, or conversations inside the project itself. Your personal ChatGPT memory stays private.

Everyone sees all project chats
When you share a project with teammates, they can see every conversation happening inside that project. This transparency is the point - it eliminates the friction of "what did you ask ChatGPT?" and creates a shared knowledge base.

Two permission levels

• Can chat: Team members can start conversations and see existing chats, but cannot edit project settings, instructions, or uploaded files
• Can edit: Full access to modify project settings, instructions, files, and share with additional people

Chat branching
Any conversation can branch into a new direction while preserving the original thread. This lets teams explore multiple angles from the same starting point without losing work.

File sharing
Upload documents, spreadsheets, or PDFs to the project. Every team member can access and reference these files in their conversations. ChatGPT processes these files just like in regular chats—analyzing data, summarizing content, or answering questions based on the documents.

Availability
Shared projects are included in ChatGPT Business and Enterprise subscriptions.

How to Create and Share Your First Project

Creating a shared project takes less than 2 minutes. Here's the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Create the Project

1. Open ChatGPT and navigate to your projects (left sidebar)
2. Click "New Project" or the "+" icon
3. Name your project based on the work you're doing together

Step 2: Add Context (Optional but Recommended)

Before inviting teammates, set up the project foundation:

Upload relevant files

• Customer data, meeting notes, research reports
• Strategy documents, competitive analysis
• Any reference material the team needs access to

Add project instructions

• Brief description of the project's purpose
• Any specific guidelines for how the team should use it
• Example: "Use this project to build and refine our Q4 product roadmap. Upload customer feedback themes and draft feature specs here."

Start an initial conversation

• Seed the project with an example conversation
• Shows teammates what type of questions work well
• Breaks the ice before others join

Step 3: Share with Your Team

1. Click the "Share" button (top right of the project interface)
2. Search for teammates by name or email
3. Choose permission level:
4. Click "Invite"

Teammates receive a notification and the project appears in their ChatGPT sidebar.

Step 4: Set Permissions Carefully

The permission level determines what teammates can do:

Choose "Can chat" when:

• You want contributors but need to control project scope
• The project has sensitive files that shouldn't be modified
• You're testing collaboration with a larger group

Choose "Can edit" when:

• You're working with close collaborators who need equal control
• The project is truly co-owned (not just you inviting others to help)
• You trust them to modify instructions and add/remove files

Step 5: Share via Link (Alternative Method)

Instead of adding individuals, you can copy a project link to share via Slack, email, or your team wiki. Anyone with the link (and ChatGPT access in your organization) can join.

Use this when:

• You're sharing with a larger group and don't want to add people one-by-one
• The project is meant to be discoverable by anyone in your department
• You want to include the link in a meeting invite or project kickoff doc

When to Use Shared Projects (And When Not To)

Shared projects shine in specific scenarios. Here's when they make sense, and when custom GPTs or regular chats work better.

Use Shared Projects For:

1. Sales teams collaborating on key accounts

Your account executive uploads the customer's RFP, competitor intelligence, and past meeting notes. The solutions engineer adds technical requirements. The sales engineer contributes pricing scenarios. Everyone contributes to the same shared project, building a complete picture of the opportunity.

ChatGPT becomes your team's research hub, every conversation is visible, every insight builds on the last, and no one duplicates work.

2. Executives collaborating on strategic decisions

Your leadership team is evaluating an acquisition. The CEO uploads financial projections, the CFO adds due diligence reports, the CTO contributes technical architecture analysis. Each executive explores different angles in separate chats within the same project, then reviews each other's analysis.

Shared projects create a single source of truth instead of scattered email threads and fragmented ChatGPT sessions.

3. Product teams building roadmaps together

Product managers, designers, and engineers collaborate on quarterly planning. Customer feedback themes live in the project. Engineers chat about technical feasibility. Designers explore UX implications. The PM sees all perspectives before drafting the final roadmap.

Chat branching is particularly powerful here, someone can explore a feature idea in depth without cluttering the main planning thread.

4. Cross-functional projects with shared context

Any initiative requiring input from multiple people benefits from shared projects:

• Marketing campaign development (copywriters, designers, strategists)
• Event planning (logistics, content, promotion)
• Research projects (data analysis, interpretation, recommendations)
• Policy development (legal, HR, operations)

The unifying factor: everyone needs access to the same information and should build on each other's thinking.

Don't Use Shared Projects For:

Individual exploratory work
Regular ChatGPT sessions are better for personal brainstorming, drafting, or learning. Save shared projects for truly collaborative work.

Sharing outside your organization
Projects only work within your ChatGPT Business/Enterprise workspace. To share ChatGPT capabilities with external partners or customers, use custom GPTs instead.

Standardizing processes across teams
If you want every sales rep to use the same qualification framework or every support agent to follow the same troubleshooting process, build a custom GPT. Shared projects are for collaboration, custom GPTs are for consistent execution.

Things to Know Before You Share: Addressing the Visibility Fear

The biggest barrier to using shared projects isn't technical, it's psychological.

For the first time, your ChatGPT conversations become visible to teammates. That creates uncertainty:

"What if I ask a dumb question?"
"Should I be more formal in my prompts?"
"Will my manager judge me for not knowing something?"

This fear keeps people from asking the questions they'd normally ask in private ChatGPT sessions, which defeats the entire purpose of collaboration.

Here's what you need to know:

Everyone Can See Project Chats (By Design)

Visibility is the point. When your sales team sees that everyone is asking basic product questions, it normalizes learning. When your executive team sees each other's exploratory thinking, it builds shared context faster than any status meeting.

The conversations you're hesitant to share are often the most valuable:

• "Explain this financial concept like I'm new to finance" → Shows others it's okay to ask for clarity
• "What am I missing in this analysis?" → Invites teammates to spot gaps you didn't see
• "Help me think through this customer objection" → Surfaces patterns across the team

The shift: Stop treating ChatGPT like a private search engine. Start treating shared projects like a team conversation where thinking out loud is the goal.

Projects Use Isolated Memory

Your personal ChatGPT memory stays private. ChatGPT doesn't pull from your individual chat history when you're in a shared project—it only references:

• Files uploaded to the project
• Project instructions you or teammates added
• Conversations happening inside the project itself

This means sensitive personal work (salary negotiations, performance reviews, confidential strategy) stays private even when you're actively using shared projects for other work.

Any Team Member Can Download Shared Files

When you upload a file to a project, every project member can download it. Don't upload:

• Files with personal information (salary data, performance reviews)
• Confidential documents not meant for the entire project team
• Anything you wouldn't share in a Slack channel with the same people

If you need to reference sensitive data, summarize the relevant insights in project instructions instead of uploading the raw file.

Use Chat Branching to Explore Without Clutter

Worried about cluttering the project with half-baked ideas? Use chat branching.

When you want to explore a tangent or test a different direction, branch the conversation. This creates a new chat thread while preserving the original. Your teammates see both paths, but the main conversation stays focused.

Example: Your team is drafting Q4 messaging. The main chat refines the core value proposition. You branch to explore a completely different angle for technical buyers. If it works, you bring it back to the main thread. If not, the branch exists as context without derailing the primary work.

No Real-Time Collaboration (Yet)

Shared projects are not Google Docs. You can't see teammates typing in real-time or edit the same conversation simultaneously.

What you can do:

• See all conversations anyone has started in the project
• Branch from someone else's chat to build on their thinking
• Reference uploaded files that teammates added
• Modify project instructions if you have edit permissions

What you can't do:

• Edit someone else's chat in progress
• Get notified when a teammate adds a new conversation
• Lock files or conversations to prevent changes

Think of shared projects as a team workspace you check regularly, not a real-time collaboration tool like Slack.

Getting Your Team Started: A Practical First Project

The best way to overcome the visibility fear is to create a low-stakes first project. Here's a proven approach:

Week 1: Create Your First Shared Project

Pick a project your team is already working on this week. Don't wait for the "perfect" use case.

Good first projects:

• Preparing for a customer meeting (upload prep materials, draft questions together)
• Planning next week's team meeting (build agenda, gather discussion topics)
• Researching a new tool or vendor (collect information, compare options)
• Drafting content together (outline a proposal, refine messaging)

What makes these good starting points:

• Clear scope (you're not committing to use shared projects forever)
• Immediate value (replaces Slack threads or email chains)
• Low stakes (if it doesn't work perfectly, no major consequences)

Step-by-Step for Your First Project:

1. Create the project with a specific name tied to real work
2. Add initial context before inviting anyone
3. Invite 2-3 close collaborators (not your entire team yet)
4. Model the behavior you want
5. Run a 5-minute retro at the end of the week

Week 2: Expand Based on What You Learned

If the first project worked:

• Invite more teammates
• Create a second project for different work
• Share your learnings with other teams

If it felt awkward:

• Identify what created friction (too many people? Wrong use case? Unclear purpose?)
• Adjust and try again with a narrower scope

The goal isn't perfection—it's building the muscle of transparent collaboration.

Key Takeaways

1. Shared projects turn isolated ChatGPT sessions into team workspaces where everyone sees conversations, shares files, and builds on each other's thinking.
2. The biggest barrier is psychological, not technical. People fear making their ChatGPT conversations visible to teammates. Overcome this by normalizing exploratory questions and modeling transparent collaboration.
3. Use shared projects for true collaboration (sales account research, executive strategic decisions, product roadmap planning). Use custom GPTs when you need to share a process or capability, not collaborate on specific work.
4. Projects maintain isolated memory. Your personal ChatGPT history stays private—projects only use information explicitly shared inside them.
5. Start small with a low-stakes project this week. Don't wait for the perfect use case. Pick real work, invite 2-3 close collaborators, and learn by doing.

Try This

This week, create one shared project for work you're already doing with teammates.

Don't overthink the use case. Pick something happening this week:

• Prepping for a client meeting
• Planning a team initiative
• Researching a decision you need to make together
• Drafting content or strategy

Follow these steps:

1. Create the project with a specific, work-focused name
2. Upload 1-2 relevant files
3. Start one example conversation
4. Invite 2-3 teammates with "Can edit" permissions
5. Use it for real work, not as a demo

At the end of the week, ask your team: "Did this make our work easier?" If yes, expand. If no, identify what created friction and adjust.

The shift from shadow AI to shared intelligence starts with one project.

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Want help rolling out ChatGPT shared projects across your organization?

Kowalah helps teams adopt ChatGPT Enterprise with structured training, change enablement, and ongoing support. We've guided hundreds of organizations through AI rollouts—from technical setup to building collaboration habits like shared projects.

Start chatting with us to discuss your ChatGPT Enterprise rollout.

Go Deeper

Ready to implement what you've learned? These free resources will help:

• AI Policy Template - Develop an AI-positive policy to share with your organization and encourage AI experimentation
• AI Use Case Discovery Workshop Template - Gather business requirements and ideas from your functional teams
• GPT Designer - Build your own mini assistant to use in your ChatGPT workspace