Recently OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued what he calls a “code red,” urging employees to double down on improving ChatGPT as the company scrambles to keep up with Google’s fast-advancing AI challenger: Gemini 3.
OpenAI is facing one of its most critical moments yet (CNBC, 2025). The latest model from Google DeepMind, Gemini 3 has outperformed on key benchmarks and impressed even long-time users of ChatGPT. Launched just last month, Gemini 3 has already amassed more than 650 million monthly users, up from 450 million in July. By comparison, OpenAI’s ChatGPT still leads with 800 million weekly users, but the margin is shrinking fast.
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce and once a daily user of ChatGPT, publicly switched allegiance. “I’ve used ChatGPT every day for 3 years. Just spent two hours on Gemini 3. I’m not going back,” Benioff posted on X to his one million followers. The leap is insane: reasoning, speed, images, video … everything is sharper and faster. It feels like the world just changed, again.” (Fortune, 2025)
And it’s not just him. Across Silicon Valley, developers and executives are signaling that Gemini 3 may have set a new standard for what a general-purpose AI can do. Even Nvidia, whose chips power much of today’s AI ecosystem, has had to defend itself after reports surfaced that Google’s in-house silicon may be catching up.
OpenAI has hit pause on plans to integrate advertising into ChatGPT, choosing instead to focus on core capabilities. This is a clear sign the company is shifting into defense mode, diverting resources away from monetization and toward product development.
Google’s advantage is its unlimited capital and deep infrastructure. But it's not the only threat. Amazon is a major backer of Anthropic, while Meta continues to scale its open-source models. Apple, which has been slow to deploy generative AI features, recently appointed Amar Subramanya as VP of AI: a high-profile move that hints at a more serious AI push in 2026. Subramanya previously led engineering for Google’s Gemini assistant and most recently held a senior role at Microsoft.
Google is generating north of $100 billion per quarter, with $74 billion coming from advertising (Business Insider, 2025). That cash machine is now subsidizing its AI moonshot. OpenAI, meanwhile, is spending heavily. Its projected $1.4 trillion in infrastructure costs over the next eight years has some on Wall Street nervous—even as Altman insists the company is on track to surpass $20 billion in annual revenue this year.
Just last year, Altman famously quipped, “I try not to think about competitors too much.” But the tables have turned since then (Business Insider, 2024). For years, the company set the pace in generative AI, defining public perception and technical benchmarks alike. But Gemini 3 has shifted the center of gravity. Google, once lagging, now threatens to turn the AI story from a startup-led disruption into a platform-led consolidation.