Why OpenAI's Sam Altman has called for a ‘code red’? Here's what we know | World News

Why OpenAI's Sam Altman has called for a ‘code red’? Here's what we know

Published on: Dec 11, 2025 05:15 PM IST

OpenAI has lately been facing tough competition from tech giant Google, whose new Gemini AI model propelled Google stocks past OpenAI last month.  

OpenAI's chief executive officer Sam Altman reportedly declared a ‘code red’ early this month in an attempt to improve the quality of ChatGPT, the company's flagship product. This, according to the internal memo cited by a report in The Wall Street Journal, is being done to fend off competition from other tech firms who are fast catching up with Altman's ChatGPT in the AI race.

File photo of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. With code red, OpenAI has put a pause on all other products and has focused the efforts on optimisation of ChatGPT. (REUTERS)
File photo of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. With code red, OpenAI has put a pause on all other products and has focused the efforts on optimisation of ChatGPT. (REUTERS)

What is code red?

As ‘code red’ is declared, OpenAI will delaying other products and focus all its efforts on the optimisation of ChatGPT including improving personalization features for users, increasing its speed and reliability, and allowing it to answer a wider range of questions, WSJ said in a report.

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‘Code red’ follows OpenAI earlier order of declaring a ‘code orange’ as it began working on improvement of ChatGPT. OpenAI has three colour codes-- yellow, orange and red-- and are implemented in accordance to the urgency required to deal with the problems.

Why code red?

OpenAI CEO Altman has reportedly told the staff they might need to pause the pursuit of artificial general intelligence and “give the people what they want”.

Altman reportedly said OpenAI had more work to do on the day-to-day experience of ChatGPT, including improving personalization features for users, increasing its speed and reliability, and allowing it to answer a wider range of questions.

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OpenAI has been facing a tough competition in the AI race, with Google's Gemini being a key challenge. A new version of Gemini AI model last month outdid OpenAI on industry benchmark tests which prompted a surge in the Google's stock.

Gemini has been gaining popularity which was further pushed in August when it launched Nano Banana, an image generator. According to Google, its monthly active users grew from 450 million in July to 650 million in October. Altman's OpenAI is also facing competition from Anthropic a popular AI tool among business customers.

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With challenges and competitions like these, Altman has said OpenAI will scale back on other initiatives such as advertising, AI agents for health and shopping, and a personal assistant called Pulse. With most resources focused on ChatGPT improvement, Altman has reportedly said that there will be daily meetings between those who are responsible for improving ChatGPT.

OpenAI's “code red” is being seen as a moment of serious challenge in the AR race where it has been maintaining an upper hand and has given rise to apprehensions of its financial stability as it has signed for giant computing contracts in recent months.

Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, and Russia get all the latest headlines in one place with including Japan Earthquake Liveon Hindustan Times.
Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, and Russia get all the latest headlines in one place with including Japan Earthquake Liveon Hindustan Times.
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