OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has issued an internal code red alert, directing teams to pause work on ads, shopping features, health agents, and the Pulse personal assistant to focus entirely on making ChatGPT faster, more reliable, and capable of handling a wider range of questions. The move comes as Google’s Gemini 3 model gains ground on benchmarks and user metrics, three years after ChatGPT’s launch prompted Google’s own code red response.
A new beta build of the ChatGPT Android app includes references to ad features, suggesting that OpenAI is working on an advertising layer for its chatbot. The code strings appear soon after reports that the company is exploring ad formats that may use ChatGPT’s memory and past chats for targeting, despite earlier public comments from CEO Sam Altman that described ads as a last resort.



