As competitor Anthropic applies increasing pressure with its improved programming tools, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is conveying to employees and investors that his company is demonstrating strong momentum. Altman informed OpenAI staff last Friday that the company's popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, has seen its "monthly growth rate exceed 10% again." Altman also stated that OpenAI is preparing to launch "an updated chat model" this week. While over 800 million people use ChatGPT weekly, competitors like Google and Anthropic are steadily gaining ground. OpenAI declared a "code red" in December to improve ChatGPT, temporarily pausing several other projects to focus on this effort.
Altman indicated that OpenAI's programming product, Codex, has grown by approximately 50% compared to the previous week. Codex directly competes with Anthropic's Claude Code, which has experienced explosive adoption over the past year. OpenAI launched a new Codex model, GPT-5.3-Codex, last week and introduced a standalone application for Mac users. In an internal message, Altman described Codex's growth as "insane," writing, "It was a great week."
However, the week was also marked by controversy. Altman and other executives responded on social media to criticism from Anthropic. Anthropic's Super Bowl advertisement mocked OpenAI's decision to introduce ads within ChatGPT. Altman posted on X that the commercial was "misleading" and stated that OpenAI would "obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic portrayed." According to informed sources, OpenAI will begin officially testing ads within ChatGPT on Monday. The company stated last month that ads will be clearly labeled, appear at the bottom of the chatbot's responses, and will not influence ChatGPT's content.
In the long term, OpenAI expects ad revenue to constitute less than half of its total revenue. The digital advertising market has long been dominated by Google and Meta, with Amazon.com becoming a significant player in recent years. Sources indicate that Altman and CFO Sarah Friar have been pitching OpenAI's growth story to investors as the company seeks to finalize a funding round potentially reaching $100 billion. In private meetings, executives have emphasized OpenAI's consumer strength, growing enterprise business, and access to computing power. As part of these discussions, OpenAI presented charts, with one showing that, according to internal data, Codex is gaining market share from Claude Code. One source suggested that funding negotiations are expected to intensify over the next two weeks.
OpenAI completed a $41 billion funding round in March, which included $30 billion from SoftBank and $11 billion from other investors. The current funding round may be completed in two parts. The first part is expected to include capital from Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Amazon.com, which is reportedly in talks to contribute up to $50 billion. This would be followed by additional investments from participants like SoftBank, which has discussed injecting another $30 billion. The details of this round are still fluid and subject to change.
According to data from EDO CEO Kevin Krim, Anthropic's Claude outperformed OpenAI's ChatGPT in this year's Super Bowl advertising battle. Analysis of consumer engagement following the ads showed that Anthropic's two commercials generated more search volume and website visits than the three ads from Microsoft-backed OpenAI, signaling a shift in how AI companies are competing for mainstream users. An unexpected winner of the AI ad showdown was ai.com, a domain purchased by Crypto.com founder Chris Marsalek. Krim noted, "He and his creative team trolled Musk and Altman," adding that the website crashed minutes after the ad aired on television. This provocative approach proved highly effective at driving consumer curiosity and interaction.
Krim observed a difference in strategy between the two leading AI firms. Anthropic targeted consumers directly, while OpenAI appeared to focus on enterprise and programmer audiences. One commentator questioned if OpenAI's strategy was appropriate for the Super Bowl's broad consumer viewership, stating, "If I were the one spending OpenAI's money here, I would actually be begging users." The technology industry was a dominant force in this year's game, with approximately 16 companies purchasing ads, including OpenAI, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Meta, and Anthropic.