OpenAI 'Code Red' Raises Stakes in AI Race with Google

The competition within the artificial intelligence sector is accelerating as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly shares an internal memo expressing concern over Google’s latest AI development, Gemini 3.

The memo is understood to have declared a 'Code Red' to encourage employees to prioritise the advancement of its ChatGPT model.

This move could signal a critical moment in the ongoing AI race, with competitors such as Anthropic and Meta also developing their own models.

The internal note urges OpenAI's workforce to focus on improving the quality of the chatbot.

According to The Information, this involves delaying other plans, including the potential integration of ads. Sam is said to be prioritising the core user experience.

“We are at a critical time for ChatGPT”, Sam states. This follows reports from the Wall Street Journal that the CEO has pushed staff to work on ChatGPT’s “day-to-day experience” with a focus on improving personalisation features, faster and more reliable responses and the ability to “answer a wide range of questions”.

ChatGPT's anniversary and Google's retrospective

The directive from OpenAI's leadership arrives just as ChatGPT marked its third anniversary on 30 November 2023. The milestone serves as a reminder of the disruption caused by its initial launch, an event that prompted Google CEO Sundar Pichai to issue his own 'code red' at the time.

Speaking at Salesforce’s Dreamforce event on 17 October 2023, Sundar reflects on Google's position when ChatGPT first appeared. When asked by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff how the established AI leader reacted, Sundar explains that Google was already in the process of developing a chatbot, but the technology required further refinement.

“We were making a lot of progress”, he says, “but credit to OpenAI, you know, they put it out first.”

He adds: “We knew in a different world we would’ve probably launched our chatbot maybe a few months down the line. We hadn’t quite gotten it to a level where you could put it out and people would’ve been OK with Google putting out that product.”

Sundar notes that the release of ChatGPT changed the landscape, presenting an opportunity to “seize the moment and execute well as a company”.

He highlights Google's long-term investment in this area, saying: “We had been building this tech for so long, we were so AI native. I had decided to take a full-stack approach to AI, we were investing all the way from infrastructure, we built our own chips, we had world-class research teams: Google Research, Google Brain and Google DeepMind.”

Google's Gemini 3 enters the arena

Google's response now materialises with Gemini 3, which launched on 18 November 2023. Google describes the launch as its fastest ever integration of a model into its ecosystem. Google's new model has been recognised for its creative writing abilities and its new Nano Banana Pro image generator.

The Gemini 3 software includes new capabilities in reasoning, multimodal understanding and action-oriented tasks, which could position it as a substantial competitor to ChatGPT. The release draws comment from industry leaders.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff shares his experience in a post on X saying: “I’ve used ChatGPT every day for three years. Just spent two hours on Gemini 3. I’m not going back.”

“The leap is insane: reasoning speed images video… everything is sharper and faster. It feels like the world just changed again.”

In a sign of the competitive yet watchful nature of the industry, Sam Altman also posts his own reaction to the launch.

“Congrats to Google on Gemini 3! Looks like a great model,” the OpenAI CEO states.