Andy Sack (00:00)
I think the one thing that I would for is they've really gone into every business possible.
Yes, they're in the lead position with users. And yes, they have a phenomenal, I would say they have the best AI productization, but
they're trying to do too much.
This is AI First with Adam and Andy, the show that takes you straight to the front lines of AI innovation and business. I'm Andy Sack, and alongside my co-host, Adam Brotman, each episode we bring you candid conversation with business leaders transforming their businesses with AI. No fluff, just real talk, actionable use cases, and insights for you.
Good morning, Adam. Good morning, everyone.
Adam Brotman (00:48)
Good morning, Andy.
Andy Sack (00:49)
Today we're going to be talking about the code red email that Sam Altman put out, I guess, yesterday, really talking about Geminize 3.1 and the reception in the market as a result of that and what the implications are for OpenAI and for the large language model companies in general.
you want to tee us off?
Adam Brotman (01:12)
I'm generally fascinated by how Gemini has come on so strong in the last month in terms of substantive releases, both Gemini 3 and Nano Banana Pro, and some of the usage data that's starting to come out about how much market share they're taking and how well they're doing.
on the heels of anthropic, uh, being talked about with Claude as like the leader and B2B, which you and I have already talked about probably comes from coding and developers mostly, but still B2B leader compared to open AI. And then there's like these memos that are leaking out open AI where, you know, uh, allegedly, but let's just go with it for a second. Sam Altman is calling a code red and is telling his team, you know, heads up, like we got a
we gotta kick some butt now. got some real competition coming from Gemini amongst others. my take on it is not ready just to be like dismiss it, but I'm more on the I'm still a believer in open AI than I'm the reason I say that is that I think it's sort of like we live in this
world as you and I have talked about where the media cycles and social media and buzz is like super important. It's kind of everything now. And this is the first time ironically on the third year anniversary of the release of chat GBT. It's the first time that chat GBT sort of supremacy in the generative AI chat bot world has been seriously challenged. I think this was the moment that was the first time we code reds and
you know, we're going to have some bumpy times. it's just interesting to watch because you're like, ⁓ would we have predicted that it would happen? What does it mean? My take personally is, okay, you know, good on open AI for calling a code red and getting if it's wherever you want to call it, by circling the wagons and being like, we got some serious competition from Google, maybe in a way that came on faster and better than than open AI thought, maybe they underestimated
DeepMind, is something I'm sure they won't do again. I Demisys, Obis, and the Google DeepMind team are amazing. You and I have been incredibly impressed with not just Nano Banana, but Gemini 3, Notebook LM. Good on them. But my personal take is I think that ChatGBT has demonstrated some pretty good product chops. They were a leader to start with. My guess is that they're going to have
a comeback in the vibes world here in the not too distant future. That's my guess. What's your take?
Andy Sack (03:39)
I mean, my take is that.
Sam's doing the right thing as CEO of OpenAI. And in the context of the leadership position that OpenAI has, they're trying to be the, for lack of a better comparison, the Google of the AI era. So they're just as Google was in 2000, and there were a bunch of, or in the late 90s, there were a of search engines.
whether that be Lycos or Tripod or AltaVista, and along comes Google, dominates the market, dominates with users, and really the next 25 years establish the greatest monopoly in business history. it's an independent company. does not have the
resources, the data, the team, the cash that Google does. And so it's doing what a startup should do. And they've made enormous commitments. They're heavily invested, maybe even too invested, in being that lead horse and trying to claim that spot. Their user numbers,
support that and it really comes down to their growth and they're driving hard to get public because they need that capital in order to maintain that number one spot. Someone's gonna claim that number one spot. might be Google. The dark horse is Anthropic, but AIs to lose and the email is sort of, I think,
trying to rally the troops at OpenAI. But it's in the context of all their commitments I think the one thing that I would for is they've really gone into every business possible.
Yes, they're in the lead position with users. And yes, they have a phenomenal, I would say they have the best AI productization, but
they're trying to do too much.
you can contrast that with Anthropic, which is in a similar spot as a startup in the LLM space. they really, Anthropic, because of their scarcity of resources, has said, you know, we're going to dominate coding. And that's what we're going to do. And we're going to dominate, try and dominate coding for enterprise. And that's been a strength of Anthropic. And I think we'll play well for them. It's really a question as to whether AI can continue to
to marshal the cash to compete and hold on to that number one spot.
Adam Brotman (05:52)
I think those are interesting observations about your whole point about the number one spot and whether or not there's even room. mean, in case of Google, there really wasn't a number or two, right? I not There was a whole bunch of people for a while, and then couple of hanger honors in terms of Bing. I mean, Bing was, I never thought about Bing until AI came along.
and it was like resurrected. so in all reality, there was a winner take all kind of Google thing. But putting that aside, know, one thing it makes me think of is, you know, OpenAI and ChatDBT, there really is like some pretty magical stuff still going on there that's better in my opinion than the, and I'm speaking from personal preference in terms of sort of the user experience and the user interface. Like, like,
They weren't just first on a bunch of things. They're just better with advanced voice mode. They've made improvements with that. their concept of memory and personalization on the UI. if people are listening to us and they're like, what does this mean to me? Like Andy's makes a good point about like, are they doing too much and who's going to be number one and all that kind of stuff. I actually think what's interesting about
about generative AI, and I'm curious to get your thoughts on this. It's different than a lot of other applications that we all use. We tend to have a favorite. We tend to have, for a utility application, I maybe we have Spotify. Well, that's not a good example. Maybe we have Netflix and Hulu and HBO Max. And that's an example of where you actually have multiple different stuff and you kind of.
You pick which ones you like for different things, but that's not a great comparison either. Most business utilities or just generally even consumer utility, you don't do more than one. got your favorite browser. You don't pick multiple browsers. Usually you pick one, you know, you just, if you pick your favorite shopping sites or whatever in this case, like I'm going to be really interested to see if we live in a world where
you're splitting your time between Gemini and ChatGBT, I think the answer to that is yes. I actually think that we're gonna be in a world where you turn to Gemini for some things and ChatGBT for other things. And I actually think that ChatGBT's gonna have this advantage because of its UI. I believe it's sort of better at UI than the
Andy Sack (08:04)
and products. I mean, I think you're right that they're releasing product and product interfaces that certainly resonate with you and I. And switching costs are pretty low. And price is pretty low. So you can afford to, for business users, have both. ultimately, as you use, you become more comfortable
with one platform overall. ⁓ So
Adam Brotman (08:28)
Yeah. Yeah.
So memory and personalization could end up being a really interesting play. as it feeds into the broader UI, UX interface thing, my spider senses tell me that there's going to be this sort of tug of war around who's number one and who's got the top vibes and whose model is the best and all that kind of stuff. But I think user numbers and ultimate success is going to come from
customer experience and maybe chat CBT got punched in the face from a vibes perspective in the last month, but I wouldn't count them out.
Andy Sack (09:00)
No, neither would I. I mean, I think we as a company and as users skewed towards OpenAI. But you're a huge fan of Notebook LM. And increasingly, we're both using Gemini. So with that, curious to hear what the audience thinks. Hope this commentary was helpful. for listening.
For more resources on how to become AI First, you can visit our website, form3.com, download case studies, research briefings, and executive summaries, as well as join our email list. We also invite you to join our AI First community, a curated hub and network for leaders turning AI hype into action. We truly believe you can't over invest in your AI learning. Onward.
I think the one thing that I would for is they've really gone into every business possible.
Yes, they're in the lead position with users. And yes, they have a phenomenal, I would say they have the best AI productization, but
they're trying to do too much.
This is AI First with Adam and Andy, the show that takes you straight to the front lines of AI innovation and business. I'm Andy Sack, and alongside my co-host, Adam Brotman, each episode we bring you candid conversation with business leaders transforming their businesses with AI. No fluff, just real talk, actionable use cases, and insights for you.
Good morning, Adam. Good morning, everyone.
Adam Brotman (00:48)
Good morning, Andy.
Andy Sack (00:49)
Today we're going to be talking about the code red email that Sam Altman put out, I guess, yesterday, really talking about Geminize 3.1 and the reception in the market as a result of that and what the implications are for OpenAI and for the large language model companies in general.
you want to tee us off?
Adam Brotman (01:12)
I'm generally fascinated by how Gemini has come on so strong in the last month in terms of substantive releases, both Gemini 3 and Nano Banana Pro, and some of the usage data that's starting to come out about how much market share they're taking and how well they're doing.
on the heels of anthropic, uh, being talked about with Claude as like the leader and B2B, which you and I have already talked about probably comes from coding and developers mostly, but still B2B leader compared to open AI. And then there's like these memos that are leaking out open AI where, you know, uh, allegedly, but let's just go with it for a second. Sam Altman is calling a code red and is telling his team, you know, heads up, like we got a
we gotta kick some butt now. got some real competition coming from Gemini amongst others. my take on it is not ready just to be like dismiss it, but I'm more on the I'm still a believer in open AI than I'm the reason I say that is that I think it's sort of like we live in this
world as you and I have talked about where the media cycles and social media and buzz is like super important. It's kind of everything now. And this is the first time ironically on the third year anniversary of the release of chat GBT. It's the first time that chat GBT sort of supremacy in the generative AI chat bot world has been seriously challenged. I think this was the moment that was the first time we code reds and
you know, we're going to have some bumpy times. it's just interesting to watch because you're like, ⁓ would we have predicted that it would happen? What does it mean? My take personally is, okay, you know, good on open AI for calling a code red and getting if it's wherever you want to call it, by circling the wagons and being like, we got some serious competition from Google, maybe in a way that came on faster and better than than open AI thought, maybe they underestimated
DeepMind, is something I'm sure they won't do again. I Demisys, Obis, and the Google DeepMind team are amazing. You and I have been incredibly impressed with not just Nano Banana, but Gemini 3, Notebook LM. Good on them. But my personal take is I think that ChatGBT has demonstrated some pretty good product chops. They were a leader to start with. My guess is that they're going to have
a comeback in the vibes world here in the not too distant future. That's my guess. What's your take?
Andy Sack (03:39)
I mean, my take is that.
Sam's doing the right thing as CEO of OpenAI. And in the context of the leadership position that OpenAI has, they're trying to be the, for lack of a better comparison, the Google of the AI era. So they're just as Google was in 2000, and there were a bunch of, or in the late 90s, there were a of search engines.
whether that be Lycos or Tripod or AltaVista, and along comes Google, dominates the market, dominates with users, and really the next 25 years establish the greatest monopoly in business history. it's an independent company. does not have the
resources, the data, the team, the cash that Google does. And so it's doing what a startup should do. And they've made enormous commitments. They're heavily invested, maybe even too invested, in being that lead horse and trying to claim that spot. Their user numbers,
support that and it really comes down to their growth and they're driving hard to get public because they need that capital in order to maintain that number one spot. Someone's gonna claim that number one spot. might be Google. The dark horse is Anthropic, but AIs to lose and the email is sort of, I think,
trying to rally the troops at OpenAI. But it's in the context of all their commitments I think the one thing that I would for is they've really gone into every business possible.
Yes, they're in the lead position with users. And yes, they have a phenomenal, I would say they have the best AI productization, but
they're trying to do too much.
you can contrast that with Anthropic, which is in a similar spot as a startup in the LLM space. they really, Anthropic, because of their scarcity of resources, has said, you know, we're going to dominate coding. And that's what we're going to do. And we're going to dominate, try and dominate coding for enterprise. And that's been a strength of Anthropic. And I think we'll play well for them. It's really a question as to whether AI can continue to
to marshal the cash to compete and hold on to that number one spot.
Adam Brotman (05:52)
I think those are interesting observations about your whole point about the number one spot and whether or not there's even room. mean, in case of Google, there really wasn't a number or two, right? I not There was a whole bunch of people for a while, and then couple of hanger honors in terms of Bing. I mean, Bing was, I never thought about Bing until AI came along.
and it was like resurrected. so in all reality, there was a winner take all kind of Google thing. But putting that aside, know, one thing it makes me think of is, you know, OpenAI and ChatDBT, there really is like some pretty magical stuff still going on there that's better in my opinion than the, and I'm speaking from personal preference in terms of sort of the user experience and the user interface. Like, like,
They weren't just first on a bunch of things. They're just better with advanced voice mode. They've made improvements with that. their concept of memory and personalization on the UI. if people are listening to us and they're like, what does this mean to me? Like Andy's makes a good point about like, are they doing too much and who's going to be number one and all that kind of stuff. I actually think what's interesting about
about generative AI, and I'm curious to get your thoughts on this. It's different than a lot of other applications that we all use. We tend to have a favorite. We tend to have, for a utility application, I maybe we have Spotify. Well, that's not a good example. Maybe we have Netflix and Hulu and HBO Max. And that's an example of where you actually have multiple different stuff and you kind of.
You pick which ones you like for different things, but that's not a great comparison either. Most business utilities or just generally even consumer utility, you don't do more than one. got your favorite browser. You don't pick multiple browsers. Usually you pick one, you know, you just, if you pick your favorite shopping sites or whatever in this case, like I'm going to be really interested to see if we live in a world where
you're splitting your time between Gemini and ChatGBT, I think the answer to that is yes. I actually think that we're gonna be in a world where you turn to Gemini for some things and ChatGBT for other things. And I actually think that ChatGBT's gonna have this advantage because of its UI. I believe it's sort of better at UI than the
Andy Sack (08:04)
and products. I mean, I think you're right that they're releasing product and product interfaces that certainly resonate with you and I. And switching costs are pretty low. And price is pretty low. So you can afford to, for business users, have both. ultimately, as you use, you become more comfortable
with one platform overall. ⁓ So
Adam Brotman (08:28)
Yeah. Yeah.
So memory and personalization could end up being a really interesting play. as it feeds into the broader UI, UX interface thing, my spider senses tell me that there's going to be this sort of tug of war around who's number one and who's got the top vibes and whose model is the best and all that kind of stuff. But I think user numbers and ultimate success is going to come from
customer experience and maybe chat CBT got punched in the face from a vibes perspective in the last month, but I wouldn't count them out.
Andy Sack (09:00)
No, neither would I. I mean, I think we as a company and as users skewed towards OpenAI. But you're a huge fan of Notebook LM. And increasingly, we're both using Gemini. So with that, curious to hear what the audience thinks. Hope this commentary was helpful. for listening.
For more resources on how to become AI First, you can visit our website, form3.com, download case studies, research briefings, and executive summaries, as well as join our email list. We also invite you to join our AI First community, a curated hub and network for leaders turning AI hype into action. We truly believe you can't over invest in your AI learning. Onward.
