OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) CEO Sam Altman has issued an urgent memo to employees to accelerate improvements to ChatGPT as competition intensifies from rival AI developers Google (GOOG, GOOG) and Anthropic (ANTH.PVT).
Altman told employees in an internal memo on Monday that he was declaring a “code red” to dedicate resources toward bettering ChatGPT, given the pressure from rivals, The Information reported. The move will delay OpenAI’s work of introducing other products, such as AI agents, the outlet said.
Google introduced its latest AI model, Gemini 3, in November, to widespread praise. The debut sent the stock soaring to a record high as Gemini 3 beat ChatGPT on benchmark tests that score AI models’ performance.
Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff was among the most prominent tech boosters to weigh in on the release, saying he was ditching ChatGPT for Google’s latest model. Altman congratulated Google publicly on social media, but the CEO privately told OpenAI employees that Gemini 3 could create economic headwinds for OpenAI, as reported previously by The Information
Another of OpenAI’s greatest rivals, Anthropic, released its own newest model, Claude Opus 4.5, on Nov. 24.
OpenAI has ambitious revenue goals, with the ChatGPT developer projecting revenue will soar from $13 billion in 2025 to $200 billion in 2030, keeping pressure on the company to maintain its lead in the chatbot space, which it first won after ChatGPT’s release three years ago. OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5, was unveiled in August to mixed reviews.
Read more: How to protect your portfolio from an AI bubble
Meanwhile, the leading artificial intelligence developer has made aggressive spending promises in an effort to scale up AI infrastructure used to train and run models. OpenAI has committed $1.4 trillion to building out AI data centers over the next eight years, inking multibillion-dollar deals with AI cloud providers CoreWeave (CRWV) and Oracle (ORCL), as well as chipmakers Broadcom (AVGO), Nvidia (NVDA), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
OpenAI’s circular deals with its own suppliers and customers have raised eyebrows on Wall Street and fueled concerns over an AI bubble.
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.
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