Sam Altman says OpenAI has gone 'code red' multiple times — and they'll do it again

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, revealed in a recent episode of the 'Big Technology Podcast' that the company has frequently entered a state of 'code red' to address competitive threats. This proactive approach, he noted, is likely to continue as rivals intensify their efforts against OpenAI's market position. Altman emphasized the importance of vigilance, stating, "It's good to be paranoid and act quickly when a potential competitive threat emerges." He anticipates that OpenAI will find itself in this emergency mode perhaps once or twice a year, a strategy aimed at ensuring the company's dominance in the AI sector. Earlier this year, OpenAI went into code red in response to the emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup that claimed its model was on par with leading competitors like ChatGPT, but at a significantly lower cost. Additionally, just weeks ago, OpenAI declared another code red following Google's launch of its latest AI chatbot, Gemini 3, which received widespread acclaim as Google's most sophisticated model yet. In an internal communication, Altman informed staff that OpenAI would shift its focus to enhancing ChatGPT, delaying other product developments. While he acknowledged that Gemini 3 did not have the alarming impact they initially feared, it nonetheless highlighted vulnerabilities in OpenAI's strategy, prompting swift action to rectify these issues. Since entering code red, OpenAI has accelerated the rollout of new features and improvements. Just last week, the company introduced a more advanced AI model designed to boost ChatGPT's capabilities in professional, coding, and scientific applications. Furthermore, an innovative image-generation model was unveiled earlier this week. Altman expressed confidence that the code red status would soon be resolved, drawing from past experiences where such states typically lasted six to eight weeks. The concept of a code red is not unique to OpenAI; Google also declared a similar state in 2022 after the launch of ChatGPT, reflecting the intense competition within the tech industry to lead in AI advancements.