Gemini 3 has AI enthusiasts singing Google’s praises. As chatbots become a dime a dozen, can OpenAI continue to stand out and make enough money to pay back its investors?
As ChatGPT turns three this week, its future is more uncertain than I would’ve predicted just a few years ago. Large language models have become largely commodified, with similar interfaces and training data, making ChatGPT look less unique with each passing day.
The biggest threat comes from Google Gemini, which had a rocky start after ChatGPT caught it flat-footed, but is now starting to compete in earnest. However, even smaller players, such as Anthropic, as well as inexpensive open-source models, are rapidly establishing themselves.
OpenAI Sam Altman is aware of the challenges; he reportedly declared a „code red“ this week and ordered staff to refocus on immediate improvements to its chatbot. Here’s a look at what it’s up against in its third year. Google’s Revenge Is Near
With the November release of Gemini 3, Google’s AI was named the most capable AI chatbot, according to industry benchmarks, The Wall Street Journal reports. On X, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said „everything is sharper and faster“ on Gemini 3. „I’m not going back [to ChatGPT].“
It’s sweet revenge for the tech giant after the internet roasted its first iteration of AI Overviews for recommending you put glue on pizza to make the cheese stick.
The Journal acknowledges that ChatGPT still dominates the chatbot space. Its US market share was at 78% in November to Gemini’s 3.3%, according to StatCounter. However, I was surprised to see that the Gemini app has more than 650 million users per month, according to CEO Sundar Pichai, closing the gap with ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users. In September, Gemini downloads overtook ChatGPT in global app stores thanks to Google’s Nano Banana image generator, TechCrunch reports.
That’s noticeable progress since Google issued its own „code red“ in late 2022 over ChatGPT’s threat to its search business. Fast forward three years, and Pichai is now being praised as the “wartime CEO” the company needed, Bloomberg writes.
