OpenAI Activate Code Red: Protect User Cycle, Postpone Ad Strategy

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (photo: x @5149jamesli)

JAKARTA - OpenAI is considered to have moved too widely in recent months, and CEO Sam Altman seems to be fully aware of it. Through an internal instruction titled Code Red, Altman asked all employees to take reset steps: focus on increasing ChatGPT and temporarily stopping various initiatives deemed not a priority.

One of the most striking decisions is the delay in advertising plans, although the chances of revenue are huge and OpenAI's financial condition is in the spotlight.

The reason for the delay is simple: in the world of technology, nothing is more important than users.

Google proved it years ago. Every search and click user creates a feedback loop that continues to improve search results. This cycle strengthens service quality, attracts more users, and eventually builds a giant fort that competitors almost can't penetrate.

ChatGPT's position is now on the same track. Nearly a billion people now interact with him every week, giving OpenAI unprecedented access to human mindset, interests, and behavior.

Each prompt, answer, and correction can be reused to train models, tighten evaluations, and improve quality through reinforcement learning. This is one of the strongest feedback cycles in AI history.

Code Red instructions aim to protect that advantage. If ChatGPT is more useful, users will use it more frequently. The more often it is used, the stronger the learning cycle, and the better the quality of a circle that can put ChatGPT in the dominant position in the AI realm like Google in the realm of internet search.

However, this dominance is no longer guaranteed. The launch of Gemini 3 from Google has succeeded in attracting a number of new users. If the ChatGPT quality decreases, feels slow, or starts to look full of interference, it is likely that the user's move to Google will increase. The presence of advertisements at this sensitive time can trigger small disturbances which are precisely the determining factors for the displacement.

For now, OpenAI is betting on a new model release to revive ChatGPT growth. Ads will still come, but not now. Running a generating AI on a global scale is much more expensive than a search service or social media.

OpenAI has prepared an infrastructure investment plan worth hundreds of billions of dollars to support ChatGPT operations. In the end, financial needs will force companies to implement more aggressive monetization.

If OpenAI is capable of building an AI-based advertising business equivalent to half of Google's search advertising business, the company could potentially generate about $50 billion in profits per year to support their giant ambitions.

But the future depends on the strength of the current user cycle. For now, the priority is clear: making ChatGPT much better, attracting more users, and keeping the wheels of growth rolling. Ads can be delayed. User growth no.