Red Alert at OpenAI: Ad Plans Dropped to Focus on ChatGPT Quality Amid Gemini Threat

OpenAI has shifted away from advertising inside ChatGPT, deprioritising the ad plan in favour of boosting ChatGPT’s overall quality, a move prompted by the pressure to keep pace with Google’s Gemini models. According to insiders, the focus change followed Sam Altman declaring a “red alert” and urging teams to enhance ChatGPT before it falls behind competitors such as Google and Anthropic.

Altman also signalled improvements in user personalisation, image generation, and core model behaviours like speed and reliability, with the company planning to release a new reasoning model next week that allegedly outperforms Google Gemini 3 in internal tests. Following the memo, the head of ChatGPT said OpenAI would prioritise making the product more capable, extending its reach globally and delivering a more intuitive, deeply personalised experience.

The backdrop is a market where Google introduced Gemini 3 Pro, and observers note that Google’s resources could sustain longer-term competition, while OpenAI remains unprofitable and reliant on ongoing user growth. December 3, 2025.