According to Forbes, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has declared an internal “Code Red,” urging teams to accelerate improvements to ChatGPT in response to a growing competitive threat from Google. The memo reportedly highlights several delayed initiatives, including AI shopping agents and a feature called Pulse, which have since been publicly unveiled. Altman also claimed ChatGPT now “accounts for roughly 10% of search activity,” though the exact scope of that metric is unclear. The Information first reported that OpenAI is actively testing various ad integrations, including online shopping ads, with evidence found in the ChatGPT Android app code by engineer Tibor Blaho. This marks a shift from October, when Altman said the company had “no current plans” for ads, and CTO Mira Murati said in August they would need to be “very thoughtful and tasteful” about any integration.
The Search War Heats Up
Here’s the thing: that “10% of search activity” line is a bombshell, even if it’s vague. Is that 10% of all Google Searches? Probably not. But even if it’s 10% of a specific type of query, it’s a signal that people are starting to bypass traditional search engines for certain tasks. And that’s Google’s core business. So Altman’s “Code Red” isn’t just about making a better chatbot. It’s a defensive move against a competitor that has the distribution, the data, and now the AI models to fight back hard. Google Gemini and its search generative experience are the existential threat OpenAI always knew would come.
The Inevitable Ad Turn
Let’s be real, the ad exploration was always a matter of “when,” not “if.” OpenAI has monstrous compute costs and needs to find revenue streams beyond its API and ChatGPT Plus subscriptions. The discovery of ad-related code by Tibor Blaho and the testing confirmed by The Information just makes it official. The big question is how they pull it off without ruining the user experience. Murati’s comment about being “thoughtful and tasteful” is the key challenge. Will ads be native, like helpful shopping suggestions within a conversation? Or will it feel like a clunky banner slapped in your chat? Get it wrong, and users will revolt.
Winners, Losers, and Hardware
So who wins in this scramble? Nvidia, for one. More AI one-upmanship means more demand for their chips. Cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud will also benefit as training and inference workloads balloon. The loser, in the short term, might be the user experience as both giants prioritize rapid feature deployment over polish. And while this is a software and services battle, it all runs on physical hardware. For businesses integrating AI into industrial settings—think manufacturing floors or logistics hubs—reliable computing hardware is the unsung hero. That’s where specialists like Industrial Monitor Direct, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, become critical. They supply the rugged, durable screens and computers that power these AI applications where failure isn’t an option.
What Happens Next?
Basically, we’re entering the messy middle phase of the AI revolution. The initial wow factor of ChatGPT has worn off, and now it’s about utility, monetization, and brutal competition. OpenAI is trying to sprint forward while also building a business model on the fly. Google is trying to leverage its immense scale to catch up and overtake. The next 12 months will be about who can integrate AI more seamlessly and usefully into daily workflows. And, of course, who can do it without making their product feel like an ad-filled wasteland. The “Code Red” is on for both of them.
