Aniket PujariOpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman is facing the same challenge from Google Gemini, which Sundar Pichai faced from ChatGPT three years ago. In an internal memo to employees, the OpenAI CEO said that the company was declaring a “code red” situation that would delay work on other fronts, The Information reported.
Sam Altman on Monday told employees that OpenAI now needs to marshall its resources to make ChatGPT better as it faces intense competition from Google’s Gemini 3 comeback, with the AI model threatening peers like Anthropic and Meta.
As part of the “Code Red” effort, OpenAI will be delaying other initiatives such as advertising and autonomous as Altman called for a “surge” to improve ChatGPT, according to the memo cited by The Information.
“We are at a critical time for ChatGPT,” Altman wrote, according to the report.
OpenAI facing Google Gemini heat?
In a sweeping one-day rollout two weeks back, Google released its latest AI model Gemini 3 to billions of users across its platforms and quickly gained popularity.
Monday’s memo marks OpenAI’s most decisive indication that the company is facing pressure from its competitors,who have in the past few months narrowed the gap with the ChatGPT maker’s lead in the AI race.
Gemini 3’s release was particularly a roadblock, as the new AI model surpassed ChatGPT on industry benchmark tests and sent the search giant’s stock through the roof.
The trend has been observed since August, when Google released its AI image generator Nano Banana. Google said its monthly active users grew from 450 million in July to 650 million in October.
OpenAI recently said ChatGPT hit 800 million weekly users.
OpenAI faces a financial disadvantage when compared to Google and other tech peers as the company is not profitable yet. It has also been facing increased scrutiny over ChatGPT’s safety, while trying to find out ways in which the chatbot can be made more engaging.
Gemini 3, meanwhile, has already taken over the world especially with its capability to generate hyper realistic images.
How OpenAI plans to improve ChatGPT
The Slack memo from Sam Altman, cited by The Information, noted that OpenAI now wants its employees to improve features of ChatGPT to make user experience more customised. Altman further said that it was also a prority to improve the model’s behaviour and image generation capabilities.
As part of his push to prioritize ChatGPT improvements, Altman has encouraged temporary team transfers and planned for a daily call with those responsible for the work, the Wall Street Journal said in a separate report.
Nick Turley, OpenAI’s head of ChatGPT, reinforced the focus on the chatbot in an X post late Monday, saying the company’s focus is now “to keep making ChatGPT more capable, continue growing, and expand access around the world — while making it feel even more intuitive and personal.”
The memo said that OpenAI earlier sounded a “Code Orange” to improve ChatGPT, a slightly lower risk alarm.
