OpenAI has moved from concern to action. The company, led by Sam Altman, has internally activated a "code red" to focus on improving ChatGPT after recent advances from Google, especially with its Gemini 3 model , have significantly reduced the popular chatbot's competitive advantage.
The decision comes at a time when the race for leadership in artificial intelligence has become much more aggressive, with Google, Anthropic, and other companies hot on OpenAI's heels. In this new scenario, the absolute priority is for ChatGPT to remain the go-to tool for millions of users worldwide, including in Europe and Spain , where its use has skyrocketed in professional and educational settings.
What does the "red code" mean within OpenAI?
The term "code red" is not just a metaphor. In the internal memo obtained by outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and The Information , Altman defines this stage as the highest level of urgency for addressing the company's strategic problems and reorganizing its roadmap. Before reaching this point, OpenAI had already declared a "code orange ," a preliminary alert phase that is now considered to have passed.
The message to employees is clear: ChatGPT is becoming the absolute focus of OpenAI's activity. The goal is to refine the user experience on several fronts: faster response times, greater reliability, the ability to answer a wider range of questions, and more powerful personalization features , so that the assistant better adapts to each person's style, needs, and context.
According to leaks, Altman has called for a genuine internal "push," with daily meetings between the teams involved, temporary staff transfers from other divisions, and very close monitoring by management. The idea is to achieve visible improvements quickly that will allow them to slow the advance of the competition, paying particular attention to what Google is doing.
Altman also reportedly indicated that he wants to strengthen the model's behavior —that is, how the system responds to complex or sensitive queries—and improve image generation capabilities , an area where other tools are experiencing rapid growth.
The pressure from Google Gemini 3 and the shift in the balance of power in the AI ​​race
The trigger for the "code red" lies, in large part, in Mountain View. Google has launched Gemini 3 , a model that, according to various industry rankings, outperforms GPT-5 and GPT-5.1 in advanced reasoning, academic tasks, programming, and specialized tests where AI chatbots typically struggle.
Furthermore, the company has strengthened its offering with tools like its Nano Banana image generation model , which has rapidly gained popularity and gone viral on social media in recent months. All of this has fueled a significant increase in users within the Gemini ecosystem.
According to Google's own data, its Assistant app has grown from 450 million monthly active users in July to 650 million in October. Meanwhile, traffic reports from sources like Similarweb indicate that, in just one year, ChatGPT's market share within generative AI has dropped from around 87% to approximately 74%, while Gemini's share has climbed from 6% to 13% of traffic in that segment.
ChatGPT maintains very high figures: OpenAI reports 800 million users using the service weekly, and other analyses place its total user base at around 850 million . However, Google's growth rate has raised concerns at Altman's company, which sees the gap narrowing and the search engine leveraging its enormous user base and integration into key products like Gmail, Docs, YouTube, and Android.
Industry analysts point out that while OpenAI opted for a rapid product launch starting in 2022, Google chose a "slower but more secure" approach, activating its own "red button" when ChatGPT appeared and calmly preparing the rollout of its now much more mature Gemini models. This strategy is beginning to bear fruit and is forcing OpenAI to react.
Internal reorganization: projects on hold to focus on ChatGPT
OpenAI's response involves a profound reorientation of its resources . Altman's memo indicates that several projects will be put on hold to free up technical and human resources that will focus almost exclusively on the evolution of ChatGPT.
Among the initiatives that will be postponed are AI agents for specialized tasks, such as automating online shopping, health-related services, and more advanced personal assistants. Work on the ChatGPT Pulse personalized assistant , designed to provide daily updates tailored to each user's interests, will also be slowed down.
Another affected area is the introduction of advertising within ChatGPT . In recent weeks, there had been indications that OpenAI was preparing to deploy ads in the chatbot, a monetization method that generated excitement but also concerns regarding user experience and privacy. With the "code red" in effect, these plans are temporarily postponed to prioritize the quality of the main product.
Even some more ambitious developments, such as autonomous agents capable of performing complex tasks almost independently or AI-based physical device projects, are taking a backseat, according to the leaks. The directive is clear: concentrate all available resources on reinforcing what currently sustains the company's public image.
In parallel, reference has been made to an internal model codenamed "Garlic ," which is reportedly performing well in coding and reasoning tasks. While details are scarce, it would fit into the strategy of accelerating the development of the next generation of models capable of competing with Gemini 3 and the latest versions of Claude, Anthropic's system.
Finance, business model, and the urgency to monetize AI
The strategic shift is not solely a matter of technological prestige. OpenAI operates within a particularly demanding financial framework, with enormous costs for data centers , electricity consumption, and computing power to train and deploy its large-scale models.
Several reports, including preliminary data from The Wall Street Journal , indicate that the company is on track to accumulate multimillion-dollar losses in the coming years. Internal projections even suggest tens of billions of dollars in losses until around 2028, with profitability expected rather in the long term, provided the business plan performs as projected.
In contrast, Google and its parent company Alphabet are experiencing one of their best periods in terms of profits. With quarterly revenues exceeding $100.000 billion and net income growing at a double-digit year-over-year rate, the company has a much larger margin for investment in AI . Substantial increases in capital spending have been announced, potentially reaching $93.000 billion in a single year—a figure that underscores the resource advantage enjoyed by the tech giant.
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft and other major investors, continues to rely on new funding rounds and commercial agreements to sustain its expansion. Although ChatGPT has achieved widespread adoption, only a relatively small fraction of users pay for a subscription, forcing the company to explore new revenue streams.
These options include advertising , the creation of more advanced paid services for businesses and developers, or more controversial approaches, such as allowing certain types of content that, while they may attract some users, generate debate about the product's direction. The tension between maintaining a quality experience and finding a sustainable business model is one of the major challenges behind the "red code."
Rising rivals: Google, Anthropic and the battle for companies
Although the main focus is on Google, OpenAI is also seeing other players gain ground. Anthropic , founded by former OpenAI members, has recently launched advanced versions of its Claude model, with a particular emphasis on improving coding and office tasks , two key areas for attracting corporate clients.
The Claude Opus 4.5 model already outperforms GPT-5 and GPT-5.1 in several technical tests, according to benchmarks cited in the specialized press. Furthermore, the company claims to have over 300.000 enterprise clients , demonstrating its strong positioning in the professional segment, which is highly relevant in Europe and Spain, where companies seek AI solutions that integrate seamlessly into their workflows.
Anthropic is also considering an initial public offering (IPO) , which could reach record valuations and provide a significant financial cushion to continue investing in infrastructure and development. If it materializes under the terms currently being discussed, the operation would position it as one of the major players in the global technology market in the coming years.
In this context, OpenAI's move to protect its position with ChatGPT also has a business dimension: it aims to prevent companies currently relying on its technology from migrating to alternatives with better performance or more advantageous terms. The competition, therefore, is being waged both among end users and corporate clients.
Meanwhile, other firms like xAI and Meta are also continuing to refine their models, although their direct impact on ChatGPT and Gemini is, for the moment, less than that of Google and Anthropic. The result is a much more diverse ecosystem in which maintaining leadership requires innovating at an increasingly rapid pace.
ChatGPT as an everyday tool and the role of Europe
Despite the challenges, ChatGPT remains the most widely used conversational assistant globally. Users in Spain and the rest of Europe employ it not only as a kind of "advanced search engine," but also as a work companion , study assistant, creative support tool, or even as a personal help tool in their daily lives.
This widespread presence means that any significant change in its operation—for better or for worse—has a direct impact on millions of people and countless companies that have integrated the chatbot into their processes. That's why Altman's message emphasizes reinforcing ChatGPT's speed, reliability, and ability to handle complex questions that go beyond simple informational inquiries.
Improving personalization features is another key point, especially relevant in the European market, where users are increasingly sensitive to how technology adapts to their preferences without invading their privacy. Adjusting responses to the context, learning from previous interactions, and offering a more personalized and useful experience are elements that can set companies apart from the competition.
OpenAI is aware that if it wants to maintain its leadership, it must balance innovation and trust , in an environment where European regulations on artificial intelligence and data protection will demand greater transparency and control over the use of these systems. The pressure comes not only from other companies, but also from regulators and an increasingly informed public.
The fact that Altman has ordered daily meetings with key teams and encouraged temporary internal relocations indicates that the company is seeking tangible results in the short term, but also laying the foundations for a more robust evolution of its main product, with an eye on both the global market and regions particularly sensitive to these changes, such as the European Union.
OpenAI's move to activate the "red code" reflects the extent to which the race for generative artificial intelligence has become a marathon , where yesterday's advantage can vanish in a matter of months. With Google closing the gap thanks to Gemini 3, Anthropic gaining ground in the enterprise sector, and ever-increasing infrastructure costs, Sam Altman's company is seeking to solidify ChatGPT's role by reinforcing its quality, speed, and personalization, while temporarily shelving other projects to concentrate efforts on the assistant that placed it at the center of the technological landscape.