OpenAI Declares Urgent Action to Accelerate ChatGPT Development

Post by : Bianca Suleiman

In a remarkable pivot, OpenAI has initiated an urgent focus shift after CEO Sam Altman raised a “code red,” reallocating teams from various departments to exclusively enhance ChatGPT. This internal action, communicated through a memo and Slack messages, represents one of the most significant redistributions of resources in the company’s history.

Sources indicate that Altman has instructed staff engaged in advertising, autonomous AI tools, and shopping features to briefly suspend their endeavors and join forces to elevate ChatGPT’s performance. Initial cross-department calls have already commenced, with certain employees transitioning into new positions to expedite the initiative.

This strategic decision underscores the fierce competition in the AI landscape. Google’s new Gemini 3 model has garnered significant attention for its impressive reasoning and coding capabilities. OpenAI's leaders believe it is crucial for ChatGPT to develop rapidly in order to maintain its competitive stance, particularly as Google’s Gemini reportedly amassed 650 million users as of November.

Despite this intense rivalry, OpenAI maintains a robust lead, recently announcing that ChatGPT now caters to about 800 million weekly users and has achieved 93 million monthly app downloads, far surpassing Gemini’s 73 million as of October, according to Sensor Tower.

Altman’s communication emphasized the need for enhancements that would make ChatGPT more user-friendly, efficient, and powerful. The company is likewise working on improvements related to AI behavior and image generation. Reports indicate that engineers are experimenting with a new model dubbed “Garlic,” which has demonstrated strong performance on coding and reasoning metrics.

This high-pressure push incorporates daily coordination calls led by essential ChatGPT teams, with temporary staff transfers from other divisions to accelerate progress. Although OpenAI has yet to comment on the memo, senior management has consistently reiterated that expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities and outreach is of paramount importance.

Competitive pressures are mounting across the industry. Anthropic has recently introduced a new model targeting the automation of office and coding tasks, vying for the same enterprise clientele that OpenAI and Google are eager to capture. As technology leaders intensify their efforts, the stakes and expectations continue to rise.