Asger Risom
OpenAI is pulling back from several projects as it tries to sharpen its focus on ChatGPT.
OpenAI is pulling back from several projects as it tries to sharpen its focus on ChatGPT. CEO Sam Altman has issued a “Code Red” to staff, signaling a shift toward stabilizing the product at the heart of the company’s future.
The strategic move comes at a moment when competitors are gaining ground — and when OpenAI’s financial pressures are increasingly visible.
Focus shift
Altman told employees this week to concentrate on improving ChatGPT and set aside lower-priority work, according to Business Insider’s reporting. The most unexpected pause involves advertising. Although ads could deliver significant revenue, they also risk alienating users at a critical moment.
Tech history offers a precedent. Google’s ascent came from protecting its search feedback loop: a cycle in which user behavior steadily refined the system. That loop eventually became a barrier rivals struggled to cross.
ChatGPT now occupies a similar position. With nearly a billion weekly users, the assistant provides OpenAI with a constant stream of prompts that help refine new models, evaluations and training systems.
Protecting the loop
Altman’s warning underscores the fragility of this advantage. If ChatGPT grows cluttered or feels less helpful, users could defect to Google’s expanding Gemini 3 ecosystem. Even minor friction — including ads — could push them away.
The priority, BI reported, is to keep people engaged long enough for new model releases to accelerate growth again. Maintaining the system’s usefulness, speed and reliability is seen as essential to preserving OpenAI’s lead.
Money later
For now, monetization takes a back seat. Operating generative AI at global scale costs far more than running search engines or social platforms, and OpenAI has already committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure.
At some stage, the company must recoup those expenses. Business Insider noted that if OpenAI eventually builds even half of Google’s search advertising business in an AI-native format, it could yield around $50 billion in annual profit — enough to fuel its long-term ambitions.
Flywheel first
Altman’s plan relies on a simple formula: ensure ChatGPT becomes and remains the dominant destination for AI answers. More users mean better data, better models and a stronger moat. Ads will arrive eventually, but only once the flywheel is spinning faster.
For now, OpenAI appears focused on one thing above all: growth that strengthens the loop, not distracts from it.
Sources: Business Insider
