Artificial Intelligence Race: OpenAI's Real Competition With Apple, Not Google, Says Sam Altman

Founder Sam Altman has said OpenAI anticipates major competition from Apple rather than Google.

Altman foresees the actual struggle for market dominance be on the lines of AI hardware rather than AI software. He does not believe phones are well equipped to take care of AI usage and AI companions.

His statements while addressing journalists at a lunch meeting comes amid recent reports that the AI giant plans to create a tangible device to house its AI, with Open AI extensively recruiting former Apple employees for its hardware section.

Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has also partnered with Jony Ive, Apple's former designer who was instrumental in creating the brand's sleek and minimalist look. The two projected the release for this model to be in "less than two years".

The company is also set to call off its 'Code Red' status soon, having announced the release of its latest AI model GPT 5.2, expected to launch in the coming week. With additional plans to release a newer model in January, which will reportedly include improved image quality, speed and personality.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the company will call off 'Code Red' status once they see these releases through.

According to reports, Sam Altman sent a memo to company staff to put the development of endeavours such as its Sora video generator, advertising, shopping and health agents and its personal assistant, Pulse on hold, in order to develop an improved version of ChatGPT.

This came after Google's Gemini saw a lot of success, which was rapidly catching up with Open AI's owing to the popularity of products such as its Nano Banana image generator.

These improvements reportedly involved core features such as being faster and more reliable, and having more optimised personalisation features, along with an increased capacity to ask more questions.