Gemini 3 puts OpenAI on high alert as biggest contender to ChatGPT

Google's latest generative artificial intelligence (AI) model, Gemini 3, put OpenAI on high alert, as the ChatGPT maker is redirecting all its focus on developing its chatbot to maintain its footing in the ever-evolving AI market.

Following Gemini 3's outstanding performance, surpassing ChatGPT in independent performance tests, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman decided to focus all the company's energy on the chatbot and delay other projects to keep up with Google, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT has remained supreme in the generative AI race since 2022, while enjoying a significant advantage in the form of massive monthly user traffic.

Google boasts 101 billion monthly visits, followed by YouTube with 47 billion, Facebook with 10 billion, Instagram with 5.7 billion, and ChatGPT with 5.2 billion, according to online visibility and marketing researcher Semrush. No other AI website appears besides ChatGPT in the top 10.

At the same time, some 81.5% of AI users worldwide prefer ChatGPT, while Perplexity accounts for 11.05% of the AI user traffic, Microsoft Copilot 3.07%, and Google Gemini 2.97%, according to Statcounter.

Google's AI offering was often overshadowed by ChatGPT, but the new Nano Banana image processing model, released in August, and the Gemini 3 model, launched last month, boosted Gemini's monthly active users from 450 million to 650 million.

Google Gemini 3 also outperformed ChatGPT in Humanity's Last Exam, an independent performance assessment.

OpenAI is trying to become a global giant through investments in software, data centers, and chips, with significant annual losses expected until 2028, totaling $74 billion, and a full return on investment expected only by 2030, according to its financial reports.