Can OpenAI respond after Google closes artificial intelligence tech gap?

By Cade Metz & Mike Isaac

 

Just before Thanksgiving, Google boasted that its new and improved Artificial Intelligence model, Gemini 3, had surpassed the technology from its young rival OpenAI and was now the best in the world.

 

Less than a month later, OpenAI has released a new model of its own, GPT-5.2, and has claimed that it is “the best model yet for real-world, professional use.” In a blog post, the company said that the technology topped several industry standard benchmarks involving computer programming, math and science.

 

But for many industry experts, the real story was that the technical gap between OpenAI’s so-called foundational AI model and everyone else had become practically nonexistent. And this tightening of the AI race has arrived at a precarious time for OpenAI, as it tries to close a yawning gap between how much money is heading out the door and how much it is taking in.

 

When OpenAI set off the AI boom with the release of its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, the San Francisco start-up had a clear lead on its rivals. It maintained that lead for more than two years. But over the past 12 months, companies in the US and China have built technologies that match or even exceed what OpenAI’s leading models can do. But like its rivals, OpenAI continues to push its technology forward. The new GPT-5.2 model showed particular improvements in generating computer code and performing tasks in other specific areas. 

 

After Google unveiled its improved chatbot in mid-November, Altman sent a “code red” memo to OpenAI employees urging them to focus on improvements to ChatGPT and to move newer projects to the back burner, according to a person familiar with the memo. 

 

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