What happened — and why it matters
OpenAI has hit pause on several side projects and declared a company‑wide “code red” to refocus on improving ChatGPT’s everyday experience. The internal memo, first reported on December 2, 2025, says teams will prioritize speed, reliability, personalization and the bot’s ability to “answer a wider range of questions,” while delaying other efforts (including early advertising experiments). Multiple outlets corroborated the memo’s contents, which also describe daily product stand‑ups and temporary team transfers to accelerate the work. Reuters, The Information (headline), Fox Business, WSJ summary via LiveMint.
Why now: Gemini 3 and Claude 4.5 raised the bar
Google’s November release of Gemini 3 has dominated several public benchmarks and impressed high‑profile power users, adding pressure on OpenAI to sharpen its consumer assistant. TechCrunch reported record scores on some reasoning benchmarks, and Google says the model is broadly available across Gemini app, AI Studio and Vertex AI. TechCrunch, Google blog.
Anthropic followed with Claude Opus 4.5, touting state‑of‑the‑art coding and agentic performance (e.g., SWE‑Bench Verified) and deeper integrations (Chrome, Excel). Anthropic, TechCrunch.
Despite fiercer competition, ChatGPT remains the largest assistant by weekly users: in October, OpenAI’s head of ChatGPT, Nick Turley, cited ~800 million weekly actives (company claim). Google has said the Gemini app exceeds 650 million monthly actives. Treat these as directional—weekly vs. monthly aren’t apples‑to‑apples—but they frame the scale of today’s AI assistant market. TechCrunch interview, TechCrunch on Gemini 3.
What’s paused vs. what’s prioritized
OpenAI’s near‑term shifts (per internal memo reporting)
| Area | Status | What we know |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising inside ChatGPT | Delayed | The memo says ad work is on hold; OpenAI hasn’t officially announced ads, though Android beta app code recently referenced “search ads” and an “ads feature.” Reuters, MacRumors, Android Authority. |
| AI agents for shopping/health | Slowed | Projects tied to shopping and health are pushed back while the team focuses on ChatGPT quality. Fox Business. |
| Pulse (personalized daily briefs) | De‑prioritized short‑term | Pulse, introduced this fall as a proactive daily update feed, was named among items to delay in some reports, though it remains an existing feature. OpenAI blog, LiveMint/WSJ summary. |
| Day‑to‑day ChatGPT UX | Top priority | Focus on speed, reliability, personalization, and broader answer coverage; daily calls and team transfers to ship faster. Fox Business. |
| Next reasoning model | Imminent | Memo reportedly mentions a new reasoning model “next week.” The Information (headline), Fox Business. |
What users should notice first
- Faster, more consistent responses in everyday chats (especially on mobile and lower‑latency tiers). Reuters.
- Better personalization: more context carry‑over and answers aligned to your preferences (within safety constraints). Fox Business.
- Broader coverage: improved handling of niche or multi‑step queries, assisted by upgraded reasoning. The Information (headline).
<<callout type="note" title="Context: The last ‘code red’ was Google’s"> When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, reporting described a “code red” inside Google as it rushed to bring chat‑style AI to Search. Two years on, OpenAI is invoking the same language to sharpen its own flagship. Axios, 2022.
For teams that automate work with ChatGPT
- Expect fewer timeouts and truncations in longer, structured outputs as reliability takes center stage.
- If you’ve been trialing Pulse to push daily briefings into workflows, plan for a slower roadmap there while core chat improvements land. OpenAI blog.
- Keep an eye on model updates: OpenAI’s memo points to a near‑term reasoning upgrade that could change cost/latency trade‑offs for agent‑like tasks. The Information (headline).
The business backdrop: revenue vs. trust
OpenAI’s consumer business has scaled quickly—outside reporting pegs 2025 revenue in the low‑teens billions—but heavy compute spend means profitability remains a moving target. That makes monetization experiments like advertising tempting, yet risky for user trust. The latest “code red” suggests OpenAI is choosing to earn that trust first by making the assistant tangibly better before introducing new revenue levers. CNBC, Reuters.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is deepening enterprise ties (for real‑world model feedback) through deals like a newly announced stake in Thrive Holdings, which aims to inject AI into accounting and IT services. Reuters.
What to watch next
- Near‑term model release: Does the promised reasoning upgrade measurably close the gap on Gemini 3/Opus 4.5 in coding and tool‑use tasks? The Information (headline), TechCrunch on Gemini 3, Anthropic.
- Product feel: Are latency and truncation complaints reduced at scale? Early signs should show up in mobile app updates and developer chatter.
- Ads (later): Android app strings suggest an ad framework exists, but it’s on ice—for now. If/when it returns, watch where ads appear (search cards? shopping?) and whether OpenAI clearly labels and isolates them from core answers. MacRumors, Android Authority.
- Personalization roadmap: Pulse and Memory are central to differentiation; any pause should be temporary if OpenAI sees engagement lift from a faster, more reliable core chat.
Sources
- Reuters: OpenAI declares “code red,” delays advertising work to improve ChatGPT; summary of The Information’s memo reporting. Link
- The Information (headline): “OpenAI CEO Declares ‘Code Red’…” Link
- Fox Business: Additional memo details (daily calls, team transfers, product areas). Link
- WSJ summary via LiveMint: Focus areas and delayed projects. Link
- Google: Gemini 3 announcement. Link
- TechCrunch: Gemini 3 benchmarks; Anthropic Opus 4.5 launch. Link, Link
- Anthropic: Opus 4.5 model page and benchmarks. Link
- OpenAI: Introducing ChatGPT Pulse. Link
- MacRumors / Android Authority: Evidence of ad‑related code in ChatGPT’s Android beta. Link, Link
- TechCrunch: Interview with OpenAI’s Nick Turley (user scale claims). Link
- Reuters: OpenAI takes stake in Thrive Holdings. Link
