The AI Battle Intensifies: OpenAI Sounds the Alarm as Gemini Pulls Ahead
Three years ago, Google was caught off guard when OpenAI launched ChatGPT. The move triggered a company wide “code red” inside Google. CEO Sundar Pichai even brought co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin back from semi-retirement to help close the gap in artificial intelligence.
Today, the situation has flipped. On December 2, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent his own “code red” message to staff. His instruction was direct: pause other priorities and focus fully on improving ChatGPT. The reason was simple. Google’s Gemini 3 had just beaten ChatGPT on key benchmark tests, and the race was moving faster than expected.
What Is Really Going On
OpenAI is reshuffling its plans. Advertising ideas are on hold. Work on AI agents for health and shopping has been delayed. A personal assistant project called Pulse has also been paused. Every available resource is now aimed at making ChatGPT quicker, more stable, and more personal for users.
Altman has also confirmed that a new reasoning model will be released next week. According to internal testing, it should narrow the performance gap with Gemini 3. Still, this moment marks a shift. OpenAI is now reacting to the market rather than setting the pace.
The Numbers Behind the Shift
ChatGPT still commands a massive audience, with more than 800 million weekly active users. But growth trends tell a different story. Over the last four months, ChatGPT lost three percentage points of global monthly active user share. During the same period, Google’s Gemini gained three points.
Engagement is also changing. Users are spending more time inside Gemini. Average daily usage has more than doubled, reaching about 11 minutes per person.
Rivals Beyond Google
Google is not the only pressure point. Anthropic released Claude Opus 4.5 on November 24, and it is finding strong interest among enterprise teams. Meta continues to improve its open source LLaMA models. In China, DeepSeek is quickly gaining attention as another capable competitor.
OpenAI’s early advantage, being almost interchangeable with AI chatbots, is fading. High quality alternatives are now easier to find and improving at speed.
Trouble on the Inside
Challenges are also coming from within. Many users felt the GPT 5 model released in August was colder and less helpful than earlier versions. Although OpenAI fixed some issues in November, user confidence took a hit. On top of that, a recent outage disrupted service for thousands of users.
Where the Race Goes From Here
The AI race that began with ChatGPT has matured. It is no longer about who launches first, but who improves the fastest and listens best to users. OpenAI’s “code red” shows how serious the pressure has become. Whether this renewed focus will restore its lead is uncertain. What is certain is that the competition is stronger, broader, and far less forgiving than before.
