OpenAI is secretly fast-tracking 'Garlic' to fix ChatGPT's biggest flaws: What we know

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET's key takeaways

• OpenAI felt the squeeze of recent OpenAI and Anthropic releases.
• CEO Sam Altman has reportedly initiated a "code red."
• As a result, OpenAI is working on a new "Garlic" model. 

Following Google's release of Gemini 3, which quickly rose to the top of the LMArena AI leaderboard, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman informed employees that he was declaring a "code red." The aim was to further improve ChatGPT to better compete, according to a report by The Information. Now, a follow-up report from the publication reveals that the company is developing a new model in response, codenamed Garlic. 

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Also: Is DeepSeek's new model the ...