Which tool to choose
The right answer is almost always separate accounts: each their own, so memory, history and personalization stay personal. For a group that works together, there are team plans, designed for exactly this: shared spaces where needed, but separate identities and contexts per person. The single shared login, on the other hand, isn't designed for personal memory, and it's the cause of almost all mixed-context problems.
How it's done
- Give everyone their own account: for many uses the free one is enough, and it solves the problem at the root.
- For a team that needs to collaborate, consider a dedicated plan with separate spaces and permissions per person.
- If a shared access is unavoidable, turn off memory, use temporary chats, and don't leave personal data in the conversations.
- In any case, clean up the history if the account changes hands.
A concrete example
In a small office they used a single account to save money. After a while, the AI was suggesting things to one colleague based on someone else's requests, and everyone saw the others' conversations in the history, including those they'd rather keep private. They did the math: the cost of a few separate accounts was minimal compared to the confusion and embarrassment. They switched to individual accounts for personal things and a shared space only for the common work materials. Memory stopped mixing people, and everyone got their privacy back.
When it does NOT work (and how to fix it)
If memory mixes people
On the shared account, the notes the AI gathers about one apply to everyone, and the advice gets confused. The definitive fix is to separate the accounts; as a stopgap, turn off memory so at least it stops accumulating a single profile made of several different people.
If you see conversations that aren't yours
It's the shared history: with a single account, the whole record is common. There's no clean way to keep it separate within the same login. The real way out is an account for each person, where everyone has their own history.
If the group really needs common data
For the team's shared materials you don't need to share a personal login: you need a shared space designed for that, inside a team plan. That way the common context stays in a dedicated place, and the personal one stays in the individual accounts.
A tip from someone who really uses it
Treat the AI account like a personal mailbox: you wouldn't share it with colleagues mixing everyone's emails. Memory and history are just as personal. For a real team, a dedicated plan costs little and keeps everyone's contexts and data orderly and protected, avoiding the tangle that arises when several people live inside the same login.
Frequently asked questions
Can I share the account to save money?
Technically yes, but you pay in confusion and privacy: mixed memory and common history. Often the saving isn't worth the disorder, especially if personal or work data ends up in it. Separate accounts, even free ones where possible, are almost always the better choice.
Do the others really see my chats?
With a shared account, yes: the history is single and common to whoever logs in. Everything you write stays visible to anyone using that login. If there are conversations you want private, the shared account isn't for you.
How do I separate the contexts of different people?
The only clean way is to separate the accesses: an account per person, or distinct spaces inside a team plan. Tricks within a single login aren't enough, because memory and history in that login are by definition common.
It's the same AI anyway, so doesn't sharing the account change anything?
No, and it's the misunderstanding that generates the trouble. The model is the same, but memory, history and personalization are tied to the account, not to the person: sharing the login mixes them among all the users. The result is an AI that gets confused about who you are and a common history that wipes out privacy. It's not "the same AI for everyone", it's "the same personal notebook written by many hands".