OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly declared a “code red,” urging employees to prioritize upgrades to ChatGPT and temporarily halt work on other upcoming products, The Wall Street Journal said Monday.
In an internal memo quoted by the paper, Altman called for major improvements to ChatGPT's speed, reliability and personalization capabilities. The urgency comes as the chatbot marks three years since its launch — a milestone that initially propelled OpenAI to the forefront of the global generative AI race.
But that early lead is now pressured by competitors, especially Google, which last month rolled out Gemini 3, the newest version of its AI assistant. OpenAI did not comment publicly on the memo, which was also reported by The Information.
Altman recently said ChatGPT now draws more than 800 million weekly users. Despite the massive user base and a $500 billion valuation, OpenAI remains unprofitable and has more than $1 trillion in long-term financial commitments to cloud providers and chip manufacturers essential to running its AI systems. Those escalating costs have heightened investor anxieties over a potential AI bubble and whether OpenAI can generate the revenue needed to satisfy key backers such as Oracle and Nvidia.
Nick Turley, OpenAI’s vice president and head of ChatGPT, wrote on social media Monday that online search is one of the major opportunities the company is targeting as it works to make ChatGPT “even more intuitive and personal.”
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While OpenAI earns money from paid subscriptions, the majority of users rely on the free version. In October, the company launched its own web browser, Atlas, in a push to compete with Google Chrome as more users turn to AI for information. However, unlike Google, OpenAI has not yet ventured into advertising on ChatGPT.
According to the Journal, Altman’s memo said the company is pausing development on advertising initiatives, AI health and shopping assistants, and a personal assistant tool known as Pulse.
Source: AP