- By Alex David
- Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:20 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is once more antagonising Google and says OpenAI nearly sold out to the small giant in its platform’s early growth spurt. Altman said that Google’s delayed response in 2023 opened a small but very important window for OpenAI to position itself as top dog in the race for AI.
In an appearance on the Big Technology Podcast with Alex Kantrowitz, Altman looked back at the time when ChatGPT first took off. He added that OpenAI was anything but safe at the time and speculated on how much different the AI landscape might be today if Google had acted more quickly and decisively.
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Altman said that Google’s stranglehold on search and digital advertising might have actually counted against it. Companies with large, established revenue streams often have trouble lurching into new markets, he argues—inventing something radical can cannibalise the current business’s profits. That reluctance, he suggested, inhibited Google’s ability to seize upon the moment of generative AI with great force.
And he offered a broader critique of the way large tech companies think about AI. Altman says a strategy of just adding AI features to existing products won't cut it. He thinks the true promise of artificial intelligence will be realised only when products are rebuilt from scratch around AI. That chasing after incremental evolutions — summaries or suggestions powered by AI — is not the ultimate aspiration. Rather, Altman sees an AI-powered future in which the agent can accomplish tasks on its own, letting people see as little information as possible.
These remarks come at a time when rivalry between OpenAI and Google is becoming fiercer. Google recently introduced its Gemini 3 and brought comparisons between the companies’ AI offerings back up. Altman agreed that OpenAI does enter “high alert” mode when competitors achieve a major breakthrough but said such instances are few and far between.
OpenAI has already launched improved ChatGPT Images to rival Google’s Nano Banana Pro – and it is rumoured that even more products are currently underway. Altman’s comments underscore how competitive the AI race was in its early days and how fast leadership in a field can change when timing and execution dovetail.