If you’ve felt like ChatGPT hasn’t been as sharp lately, you’re not alone, and apparently, OpenAI agrees.

According to The Information, Sam Altman has officially declared a “code red” inside OpenAI, halting ad plans and redirecting the company back to the one thing that actually matters: making ChatGPT good again.

This isn’t your usual corporate “we’re refocusing” PR fluff. This is “stop everything, we’re slipping” energy.

Why the Panic? Google and Anthropic Are Gaining… Fast

Google dropped Gemini 3 Pro, and the benchmarks speak for themselves. It’s beating ChatGPT in several categories. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s Claude continues to charm enterprise users with calm, reliable, corporate-friendly responses.

And then there’s OpenAI… testing shopping ads.

Look, I get the need for monetization, but ads in ChatGPT felt like the quickest way to lose users. Imagine asking for help with a recipe and getting “sponsored ingredients.” No thanks.

So Altman hit pause on:

  • Ads
  • Shopping AI agents
  • Pulse, the more proactive assistant
  • Any feature that wasn’t directly about making ChatGPT better

Great call. Nobody wants a shopping agent if the model can’t reliably handle complex reasoning.

Related: Jony Ive and Sam Altman Tease Playful AI Hardware Prototype

OpenAI Needs to Fix Personalization, Speed, and Image Quality

Internally, Altman says the priorities are:

  • Personalization (long overdue)
  • Faster, more reliable behavior
  • Better image generation
  • A new reasoning model that supposedly beats Gemini 3 in internal tests

And honestly? This is the direction users want. ChatGPT’s strength has always been versatility and personality — and it’s been leaning too far into becoming a generic productivity bot.

Suggested: ChatGPT Might Tap Into Apple Health Soon, and Honestly, I’m Not Sure How I Feel About It

Make it smarter. Make it more “you.” Make it work consistently. That alone would keep millions from drifting to Gemini or Claude.

OpenAI’s Real Problem: It Needs Users More Than Users Need It

Let’s be real: OpenAI is not profitable.

And unlike Apple or Google, which can sustain long-term investments, OpenAI needs user growth and investor confidence to keep the engine running. Ads may have been one way to do that — but they also carried the risk of pushing people straight into Google’s open arms.

If users start jumping ship, OpenAI could hit real financial turbulence. And the competition knows this.

A New Reasoning Model Drops Next Week

Altman claims it’s “ahead of Gemini 3” based on internal testing. That’s a big promise. If it delivers:

  • Better consistency
  • Better reasoning
  • Fewer hallucinations
  • Faster responses

…then the code red might end up being the best thing to happen to ChatGPT this year.

If OpenAI wants to stay on top, the recipe is simple: focus on quality, not gimmicks. And for once, it seems like that’s exactly what they’re doing.

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AI, News,

Last Update: December 3, 2025

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