Google is ‘Crushing’ …, numbers that tell you why OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was ‘forced’ to send Code Red to employees
Google’s Gemini 3 has once again emerged as a formidable rival of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT. The Google chatbot has managed to deliver superior results across reasoning, coding and multimodal benchmarking. As per industry analysts, Gemini 3 has consistently outperformed ChatGPT in MMLU reasoning tasks, programming accuracy and multimodal comprehension, making Google has the new leader in the AI model performance. The numbers clearly highlight this shift. According to data by Similarweb, ChatGPT’s seven‑day average visitors fell by about 22% over six weeks, dropping from nearly 203 million to 158 million. During the same period, Gemini’s traffic surged, with 28% month‑over‑month growth in December 2025. Gemini now commands close to 40% of ChatGPT’s web audience size, a remarkable feat given its recent launch. While ChatGPT still leads in absolute traffic, the downward trend is alarming for OpenAI.Tech researcher Rihard Jarc said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), “You can feel the code RED here. $GOOGL is absolutely CRUSHING it with Gemini 3! Gemini’s market share is now 21.5%. 3 months ago: 12.9% 12 months ago: 5.7%.” This surge in traffic is said to have come directly at the expense of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. As per Similarweb data, ChatGPT has seen its hold on the market loosen significantly — once commanding an 87.2% share, ChatGPT has slid to 68%, which is a staggering 19% drop.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s ‘code red’ response
Faced with Google’s momentum, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly declared a “Code Red” in late 2025. Internal memos revealed that Altman ordered teams to pause monetization projects — including ads, shopping assistants, and personal agents — to focus entirely on improving ChatGPT’s core capabilities. He described the situation as “existential,” underscoring the urgency of closing the gap with Google’s Gemini.
How Google is crushing OpenAI
– Integration Advantage: Gemini is seamlessly embedded across Google’s ecosystem, giving it instant distribution.– Hardware Synergy: Google’s TPU v5 chips are optimised for Gemini workloads, reducing costs and boosting performance.– Enterprise Trust: Google’s compliance standards and cloud infrastructure appeal to large corporations, where OpenAI has struggled to expand.– Research Depth: Google DeepMind and Google Research provide a steady pipeline of breakthroughs feeding directly into Gemini.
Google shares jump 60%-plus this year, powered by Gemini and more
Wall Street too seems to have given Google’s Gemini success a huge applause. Shares of Google-parent Alphabet are on track to become the best annual performer within the “Magnificent Seven” for the first time, gaining 65.6% since the beginning of the year. Adoption of Gemini has become a key signal for Google’s position in the AI race. Bank of America’s Justin Post wrote in a December note that “we see potential for Gemini to be seen as a demand generator for Search and Google Cloud.” Google’s image-editing tool Nano Banana, released in September, too helped Gemini climb in popularity earlier this year.In its third quarter earnings, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced that its Gemini app now has 650 million monthly active users, up from 450 million in July.
