OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tells staff in internal memo: Google’s AI progress could bring challenges
In a note to employees, Sam Altman, the chief executive, said that, while Google's recent breakthroughs in AI may create some short-term economic pressure on OpenAI, the company was "rapidly closing the gap" and remained committed to its long-term vision of superintelligence
Key highlights from Altman’s internal message
In an internal message to OpenAI staff, Sam Altman admitted that recent improvements in artificial intelligence made by Google might indeed prove to be a short-term challenge for the company. Altman called for the team to continue focusing on the greater mission of building superintelligent systems and reminded the team of the core strengths and resilience of the company.
Altman pointed out that Google’s Gemini 3 model has exhibited remarkable abilities in the field of automated Web and product design, along with code generation: domains in which OpenAI also competes strongly. He referred to the recent slowdown in user engagement with ChatGPT, which has created a concern internally about how such strong growth momentum is kept.
Altman remained confident that OpenAI is designed to survive stiff competition emanating from key AI releases of its rivals and to continue developing as one of the leaders in the market. He admitted that managing world-class research and large-scale product infrastructure is challenging; however, this was a challenge that the company was ready to handle.
Altman also pointed to an important infrastructure partnership with Foxconn in the U.S., developing next-generation AI data-centre hardware, as a sign of OpenAI’s strategy to solidify its long-term operational base.
