Ironically, three years ago, it was Google that was forced to sound the “code red” alert after OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT. CEO Sundar Pichai went on to warn Google staff that the AI chatbot could threaten the future of Search, which accounted for 56% of its revenue. Now, it is Altman’s turn to sound alarm bells over Google’s latest Gemini 3 model and an increasingly fierce AI model race with Google, Elon Musk’s xAI, Meta Platform Holdings and Anthropic. OpenAI CEO urged his staff “to stay focused through short-term competitive pressure … expect the vibes out there to be rough for a bit”, as a result of Google’s latest counterpunch.
Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT officially turned three late last month. There was no uncorking of champagne bottles at its creator OpenAI’s headquarters in Mission Bay, San Francisco. Indeed, the mood was also sombre 72km away in Santa Clara, the home of the world’s largest firm, chip giant Nvidia, which supplies the accelerator chips that have helped power the ongoing AI boom. Blame it all on party poopers search giant Google and start-up Anthropic AI, once considered laggards in the AI marathon that now suddenly find themselves in the driver’s seat with momentum.
Instead of unleashing a round of celebrations, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, in an internal memo declared a “code red” general state of crisis to marshal more resources towards improving ChatGPT as competitive pressure from Google and other AI rivals begins to intensify.
