Sam Altman admits OpenAI has declared ‘code red’ multiple times this year to combat rising competitive threats from Google — “It’s good to be paranoid.”

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I noticed things shifted quickly at OpenAI earlier this month. After Google released Gemini 3, Sam Altman, the CEO, sounded the alarm – he called it a “code red” – to really focus on improving ChatGPT. It seems they had to put other projects, like new advertising features and AI assistants, on hold to address the challenge.

To compete with Google’s Gemini 3, OpenAI released GPT-5.2, a new model with significant improvements in areas like coding, video, and image generation. OpenAI also recently updated ChatGPT’s image creation feature, making it four times faster, more accurate, and more imaginative.

Sam Altman shared that the release of Google’s Gemini 3 didn’t affect ChatGPT’s performance as much as initially believed. He also suggested OpenAI could be moving past its recent period of intense focus – often called ‘code red’ – potentially by January. He explained that these periods typically last six to eight weeks.

During an appearance on the Big Technology Podcast (as reported by Bloomberg), the executive explained that the company has faced similar crises before. They’ve actually activated emergency protocols – what they call ‘code red’ – several times to deal with challenges from competitors in this rapidly changing industry.

When a new competitor appears, it’s smart to be cautious and respond swiftly. We anticipate needing to address these situations a couple of times each year for the foreseeable future, and that’s a key part of maintaining our leadership position.

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman

A company leader shared that they initiated a full-scale emergency response earlier this year after a new AI model from China, called DeepSeek, began to outperform their own AI, including OpenAI’s o3 model, on many tests – and at a much lower development cost.

The OpenAI CEO said that Gemini 3 wasn’t as disruptive as they first feared, but it did highlight some areas where their products could be improved, just like Deepseek did. They are already working to fix these issues.

Do you think OpenAI is under any real threat from its competitors? Let me know in the comments.

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2025-12-19 15:39