OpenAI's code red has halted work on several initiatives in order to improve its core product, ChatGPT, as competition from Google heats up.

Recently, Google introduced Gemini 3, which the company called its "most intelligent" AI model yet. So far, the AI leaderboards agree, with Gemini 3 surging ahead of rivals like ChatGPT at LMArena. Now, OpenAI head honcho Sam Altman has reportedly declared "code red" at the company in response to increased pressure from competitors.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued a "code red" effort in his company to improve the quality of ChatGPT, and as a result, delaying other products, a report said.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has issued a "code red" alert to employees to improve ChatGPT, according to The Wall Street Journal

The directive creates an odd symmetry with events from December 2022, when Google management declared its own “code red” internal emergency after ChatGPT launched and rapidly gained in popularity. At the time,

With the additional news that Google’s in-house chip-building efforts seem to be going well, a late-2025 snapshot of the AI race probably doesn’t have OpenAI in the lead. Since the release of ChatGPT,

A 17-year veteran of Amazon, Torben Severson announced on LinkedIn that he had left the mega-retailer to join OpenAI.

Anthropic, the AI startup behind the popular Claude chatbot, is reportedly in talks to launch one of the largest initial public offerings ever as 2025.