OpenAI declares ‘code red’ amid fierce competition against ChatGPT

(AFP) OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a "code red" at the company amid stiff competition posed by other tech giants for ChatGPT, in particular Google, U.S. media reported.

In a memo sent Monday, Altman told his workers that the company is facing "a critical time for ChatGPT" and that resources must be targeted to deal with new competition to its chatbot, press reports indicated.

The situation means that other projects will be postponed, including a plan to introduce advertising into the chatbot, the CEO said.

According to the document released by The Information and The Wall Street Journal, Altman said that "code red" means that OpenAI may also delay the advancement of other products such as artificial intelligence (AI) agents to automate tasks related to shopping and healthcare.

With a valuation of half a billion dollars, OpenAI is the world's most valuable private company.

Google launched a new version of its Gemini chatbot in November, after lagging in the market when ChatGPT was launched three years ago.