The tides are changing in the AI race, and pressure on OpenAI is increasing. Chief Executive Sam Altman reportedly announced a “Code Red” on Monday, urging employees to improve its flagship product ChatGPT, an indicator that the startup’s once invincible lead is waning as competitors like Google and Anthropic move closer.
In the memorandum, reported by wall street journal And InformationAltman said the company would delay initiatives like advertising, shopping and health agents and a personal assistant, Pulse, to focus on improving ChatGPT. This, he said, includes key features such as greater speed and reliability, better personalization and the ability to answer more questions.
The memo said there would be daily calls to those working on improving the chatbot, and Altman encouraged temporary team transfers to accelerate development.
The newfound urgency marks an inflection point for OpenAI as it spends hundreds of billions of dollars to fund development and chart a path to future profitability. It’s also a full-circle moment in the AI race. Google, which declared its own “Code Red” following the arrival of ChatGPT, is of particular concern. Google’s AI user base is growing – helped by the success of popular tools like the Nano Banana Image Model – and its latest AI model, Gemini 3, has outperformed its rivals on several industry benchmarks and popular metrics.
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