Sam Altman exposes Google’s biggest weakness amid ChatGPT competition

The global race for artificial intelligence in 2025 increasingly resembles a modern-day space race, with major technology companies competing instead of nations. 

At the centre of this fast-moving contest is OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, led by CEO Sam Altman.

In a recent interview, Altman shared rare insights into how he views the strategy of one of OpenAI’s biggest rivals, Google. 

While praising Google’s long-standing success, he suggested that the tech giant may be held back by the way it approaches artificial intelligence.

Altman acknowledged that the Alphabet-owned tech giant has what he called one of the strongest business models in the technology industry, supported by its dominance in search, advertising, email, and mobile platforms. 

However, he argued that this strength could also be a limitation in the AI era.

According to Altman, Google’s main weakness lies in its tendency to add artificial intelligence (AI) to existing products rather than building entirely new, AI-first experiences from the ground up. 

He suggested that simply attaching AI features to traditional services, such as search, may not fully unlock the technology’s potential or attract users over the long term.

Altman also noted that Google’s heavy reliance on advertising revenue and established systems could make it slower to embrace major changes.