Google's Recent Progress in AI Could 'Create Some Temporary Economic Headwinds' For OpenAI, Altman Warns Employees

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told colleagues last month that Google's recent progress in AI could "create some temporary economic headwinds for our company," though he added that OpenAI would emerge ahead, The Information reports [non-paywalled source]. From the report: After OpenAI researchers heard that Google had created a new AI that appears to have leapfrogged OpenAI's in the way it was developed, Altman said in the memo that "we know we have some work to do but we are catching up fast." Still, he cautioned employees that "I expect the vibes out there to be rough for a bit."

Lol fuck this guy

[Zuck Enabler]

He messed with rich people money. He might be getting the ole Bankman-Holmes reality check.

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[gweihir]

Or maybe the Epstein version ...

Altman seems to make verbal mistakes

[KingFatty]

I don't know how to put it really, but I think if you are judging what a CEO should say, isn't it a mistake for him to say that his company is "catching up"? Doesn't that make your company look like a loser and not a winner? I feel like, there are so many better ways to say that you are facing challenges, but without portraying your company as a loser. Is there a pattern of this behavior from Altman?

Re:Altman seems to make verbal mistakes

[SlashbotAgent]

Seems like honest frankness over disingenuous double speak. I don't know how his board and investors will take it. But, it's a breathe of fresh air for me after suffering through so much CEO horseshit.

Re:Altman seems to make verbal mistakes

[crunchy_one]

The last time I checked my Webster's the man in the photo accompanying the definition for CEO horseshit was Sam Altman.

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[Tablizer]

Even a broken horse shits correctly twice a month. (Or something like that.)

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[gweihir]

Altman has these occasional bouts of honesty. Usually, he just lies like a good CEO is supposed to. But in the past he said things like LLMs definitely not being a path to AGI and the like.

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[SpinyNorman]

He's trying, maybe badly, to get ahead of the story and control the narrative.

The fact that he's willing to admit, so soon after it's public release, that Google's Gemini 3.0 is better than their own GPT 5.1 is a bit surprising though.

Having played with "Gemini 3.0 Pro Thinkiing" at the surprisingly generous usage limits of the free tier, I have to say, even as an LLM cynic that initial impression is very good.

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[Junta]

It can be a viable strategy to lean into bad news perhaps even more than is warranted. When you proclaim in 3-4 months time that you've overcome that disadvantage, people find that marginally more credible, even if that is wrong.

When you speak *exclusively* in CEO optimism speak, at some point people just stop believing anything positive you say.

What "recent progress" ?

[gweihir]

Sounds to me like they intentionally hallucinate to postpone the inevitable crash a bit longer.

Re: What "recent progress" ?

[LindleyF]

Presumably they mean Gemini 3. Which....well, I have no idea how to measure its relative goodness. But it sent goog over 300, so there's that.

Today children...

[greytree]

Today children, we will learn about Asymptotes, and why they mean that the money-grubbing cunt Altman and his dirty, closed-source, for-profit company ARE FUCKED.

Temporary?

[Tony Isaac]

No, the competition is just getting started.

The thing is, there's money to be made in AI, LOTS of money. And that will motivate all kinds of competition. Sam Altman should be shaking in his boots.

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[0123456]

> The thing is, there's money to be made in AI, LOTS of money

Sure, just about everyone is losing money pushing "AI", but they'll make it up on volume.

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[Tablizer]

works for spammers & scammers

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[Tony Isaac]

Think again. Microsoft is raking in *billions* from Copilot. https://www.geekwire.com/2025/... [geekwire.com] Other companies are raking in profits from AI, even if they themselves don't have AI products. https://themesetfs.com/insight... [themesetfs.com]

As with any gold rush, it's the tool makers that rake in the profits.

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[HiThere]

FWIW, Amazon lost money every quarter for nearly a decade. It hasn't been doing that recently.

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[evanh]

Agreed,
If Sammy is saying, as the horse-bolting leader, that the biggest gorilla on the planet has already overtaken him then I'm not sure how he thinks he's ever going to get that lead back.

As for AI, LLMs specifically, I don't think there's much money in it at all. Like search, no one is that interested in giving up money for it. It has to be converted to ad revenue to make money.

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[Tony Isaac]

Those AI search summaries you mention, that nobody will pay for...that's the loss leader. The real money is in specialized AI. Microsoft is embedding AI into its products, especially Office and Visual Studio, for extra cost, and people are handing over their wallets for it, at a rate of $13B per year at this point. https://www.geekwire.com/2025/... [geekwire.com] SalesForce is also making over $5 billion a year on their "AI and Data Cloud" whatever that includes. https://investor.salesforce.co... [salesforce.com]

You're right, nobody will

Why it matters

[oumuamua]

OpenAI is eying an trillion dollar IPO sometime next year and if Google can maintain a lead, the value of that IPO falls as well. The big payday could drop to half a trillion, utter tragedy for the billionaire private investors and tiny violin time for the rest of us.