Three years after forcing Google into Code Red, OpenAI found itself in Google’s former position. The disruptor became the disrupted. The same framework, the same playbook, the same desperate intensity – just with the roles reversed. The symmetry reveals that the playbook works regardless of which side you’re on.
Google, Late December 2022:ChatGPT achieved one million users in five days – the fastest-growing consumer application in history. “Let me ChatGPT that” entered common vocabulary. The threat to $162 billion in annual search advertising was direct. Code Red declared within three weeks of launch.
OpenAI, December 2025: Gemini 3 topped 20 industry benchmarks. Google achieved 650 million monthly users through ecosystem integration. GPT-5’s August launch had been criticized as “colder” than expected. Google’s distribution advantage proved insurmountable through standalone product excellence. Code Red declared.
Framework Analysis
Google’s Code Red response in 2022: Larry Page and Sergey Brin returned to active involvement. 80,000 employees redirected. Non-AI priorities deprioritized. “20+ AI products by May 2023” deadline established. The memo reached the New York Times.
OpenAI’s Code Red response in 2025: Advertising plans paused indefinitely. AI agents delayed despite significant investment. Teams reassigned to core ChatGPTquality. Daily leadership crisis calls. Sam Altman directly involved in product decisions. The internal urgency leaked to press.
The playbook was identical. The Code Red Playbook doesn’t depend on whether you’re incumbent or insurgent. It depends on recognizing existential threat and responding with appropriate intensity.
Strategic Implications
The symmetry reveals something profound: strategic “brilliance” matters less than accurate threat assessment. Both Google and OpenAI ran obvious playbooks – founder return, mass reassignment, initiative pause, compressed timelines. Any competent strategist could have written these moves.
What made both responses effective was recognizing, rapidly, that the threat required existential response. Most organizations fail not because they lack good strategies but because they misread threat levels. They stay at Yellow when they should escalate to Orange. They stay at Orange when survival requires Red.
The Deeper Pattern
Today’s disruptor is tomorrow’s disrupted. The framework that saves you one year may need to save you from a different threat later. Building organizational muscle for graduated threat response matters more than any specific competitive strategy.
Key Takeaway
OpenAI running Google’s exact playbook three years later proves the framework’s universality. The Code Red response works regardless of which side of disruption you’re on.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
