This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
OpenAI just signaled that the competitive pressure in generative AI is hitting a new gear. In an internal memo reported by the Information, CEO Sam Altman called for a company-wide surge to accelerate improvements to ChatGPT, temporarily slowing work on areas like autonomous AI agents and advertising. People familiar with the matter said Altman framed the move as a code red, reflecting his view that Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) recent AI momentum could be creating short-term economic headwinds for OpenAI. The shift comes at a moment when major developers are still trying to show investors that years of heavy spending could be moving closer to real commercial payoff.
That urgency has a backdrop. Google’s Gemini 3 earned fast praise last month for reasoning, coding, and niche-task performance, while OpenAI countered in October with its first AI-powered web browser. Inside OpenAI, teams are now being encouraged to temporarily transfer into ChatGPT workstreams, join cross-team coordination calls, and push forward on upgrades spanning model behavior, image generation, and a new model code-named Garlic, which the Information said has been performing well in coding and reasoning tasks. Nick Turley, who leads ChatGPT, reinforced the pivot in an X post, saying the focus is to keep making ChatGPT more capable, more intuitive, and more personal as the company expands global access.
Investors watching user-scale dynamics may see why Altman is tightening the roadmap. Google said 650 million people were using its Gemini app in November, while OpenAI recently reported 800 million weekly ChatGPT users. Sensor Tower data show ChatGPT with 93 million monthly downloads in October, ahead of Gemini’s 73 million. At the same time, Anthropic is intensifying its push for enterprise customers with a new model designed to automate coding and office tasks, adding another layer to the competitive field. Altman’s internal surge could be read as a signal that product velocity and user engagement may be the levers that matter most in the near term as the race for AI monetization enters a more demanding phase.
