In an all-hands, OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo described a strategy shift to refocus on coding and business users, urging staff to avoid “side quests”

A top leader urges staff not to be distracted by ‘side quests’ as the company plans shift of resources to coding, enterprise businesses

Wall Street Journal 2026-03-17 Berber Jin

Discussion

@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
The WSJ is reporting that OpenAI is about to take a hard turn into enterprise. [image]
@om @om on x
So turns out that Jensen raising doubts about OpenAI and its lack of business focus was true. Very true. Nothing speaking harder than the check that doesn't clear. https://om.co/...
@webaficionado @webaficionado on x
At this point, it almost feels like OpenAI's product roadmap is Anthropic's changelog 😏
@thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x
I hadn't thought about this dimension. All that Sora stuff, in addition to a general lack of focus, potentially deprives the more important business lines of scarce compute [image]
@buccocapital @buccocapital on x
Took them losing the lead to wake up [image]
@tristan Tristan Yver on x
@ContrarianCurse Part of my bet on Google is that they can out subsidize everyone else on tokens and the masses still aren't in a place where they want to pay for premium models
@aakashgupta Aakash Gupta on x
OpenAI is a $730 billion company doing what every $730 billion company eventually does: abandoning the product that made it famous to protect the product that actually makes money. The numbers explain the timing. OpenAI generated $13.1 billion in revenue last year and burned [ima…
@jyarow Jay Yarow on x
OpenAI having a code red because of Anthropic. https://www.wsj.com/...
@mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x
when's the last time you saw a sora clip? i think it's been months for me
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
this is a good story by @berber_jin1 openai spent the past couple years with ADD on a bunch of bets because they had unlimited fundraising ability and serious compute then Anthropic and google make them realize enterprise revenues are a key biz and now comes the focus
@jakehalloran1 Jake Halloran on x
this is a funny pivot pretty clearly driven by the absurd codex take off when they made it free tier eligible + ant “winning enterprise”
@the_analyst Jordan S. Terry on x
The core business is not a good one... AI is just momentum investing, it's like fiber in 1995-2002, but 3 orders of magnitude worse
@meetaiqi Aiqi Liu on x
@TheStalwart If you just look at the bets that OpenAI is making based what roles they are actively hiring, OpenAI is tackling things from custom chips, to consumer hardware, to ads. I pulled this data just 2 weeks ago. It'd be interesting to see how their hiring changes with this…
@matt_slotnick Matt Slotnick on x
crazy that the creator of the most viral consumer product in history is pivoting to enterprise
@zeffmax Max Zeff on x
great scoop. in reporting my Codex feature for WIRED, it became clear that OpenAI did not prioritize coding for years, even though it saw the potential, but is now zeroing in on it. although, i do wonder what research areas will now be deprioritized as “side projects”
@dariocpx @dariocpx on x
In other words: OpenAI core products fell far behind competitors across the board and the company is now desperately trying to catch up because its real, non circular-financed fabricated, revenues are falling off a cliff [image]
@tunguz Bojan Tunguz on x
Everything is coding
@scaling01 @scaling01 on x
guess who has been saying this since early 2025 Sora slop Image slop Audio slop Shopping slop it all doesn't matter [image]
@bearlyai @bearlyai on x
OpenAI looking to reverse this trend [image]
@bucknsf Buck on x
one thing we may learn is that specialization is required by the labs. RL compute and data for complex tasks is expensive and productized harnesses require focus. if so that is bullish for anyone not specializing in the tasks the labs clearly want (code, excel, etc.)
@ns123abc Nik on x
🚨 OpenAI CEO of apps tells staff Anthropic success should be a “WAKE-UP CALL” >"we are very much acting as if it's a code red" >claude code has become default tool at every tech company >claude cowork absolutely dominating enterprise >anthropic's enterprise share has doubled [ima…
@mweinbach Max Weinbach on x
Consumer AI will be left to Google and Apple Funny enough, both using core Google model technology and (likely for now) infra I wonder if this changes the OpenAI hardware strategy
@fundamentedge Brett Caughran on x
Will be very interested to see a Claude CoWork equivalent here One thing I've noticed, when carefully prompted, GPT 5.4 is an unbelievable model (higher ceiling than Opus 4.6 for investment research tasks). Some of the 5.4 Pro outputs I've generated are very impressive (like
@signulll @signulll on x
would've been very very fun to be in these strategy discussions. this is the most fascinating & fun element of running a business to me. & boy does it validate anthropic's intense focus on coding cuz coding is the one vertical where willingness to pay is highest & the value [imag…
@aiventurelog Joe on x
Competition in Agentic AI in the office going to heat up. Learn it now or fall behind.
@kenwheeler Patagucci Perf Papi on x
it's fucking scary how right i continue to be
@contrariancurse @contrariancurse on x
Odd pivot. But I bet you the days of free usage - of any quality is very close to coming to an end. Probably the best place to get it will be via Gemini on an iPhone
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
just from a pure competition standpoint, OAI of course gets the credit for breaking open the dam and having the largest consumer adoption of its app but first mover advantage doesn't last forever, and only a fraction of those consumers pay... https://www.nytimes.com/...
@benspringwater Ben Springwater on x
[image]
@zeffmax Max Zeff on x
there's something to be said about OpenAI pitching every person as a manager of AI agents—in which you don't need to be in the weeds on your work while simultaneously doing more of it—while the company is cutting down many of its projects and focusing on a few core areas
@ziv_ravid Ravid Shwartz Ziv on x
Who can believe that big enterprises will be the only ones paying real money, and not Dave from Ohio who wants to build his diet tracker app...
@deredleritt3r Prinz on x
@TheStalwart All that Sora stuff is, in fact, critically important - as shown by the Google paper linked below. Visual reasoning is the key unlock for world models, and eventually robotics. But there's a case to be made that it can wait until after AI research is fully automated.
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
@MikeIsaac @berber_jin1 Doesn't it kind of seem like OpenAI wants to become Anthropic while Anthropic wants to become OpenAII?
@berber_jin1 Berber Jin on x
scoop - OpenAI's Fidji Simo told staff last week that the company could not afford to be “distracted by side quests” as Anthropic gains steam in the enterprise and coding markets said company execs are actively looking at areas to deprioritize https://www.wsj.com/...
@scobleizer Robert Scoble on x
Visiting the NVIDIA GTC expo hall shows you why OpenAI is changing strategy. All the big booths are enterprise. Does this mean @sama is gonna give up his dreams of stealing Tim Cook's lunch? The biggest news here is how NVIDIA is bringing @openclaw to the enterprise. The [video]
@bonegpt Bone on x
imagine paying 6.5 BILLION DOLLARS to hire Jony Ive only to pivot away from hardware without launching a single product gotta know when to fold em but damn 6.5 BILLION [image]
@missmi1973 @missmi1973 on x
According to the WSJ, OpenAI's top executives are finalizing a major strategic shift to refocus the company around coding and business users. Fidji Simo, OpenAI's chief of applications, warned staff not to get distracted by “side quests.” There is so much worth digging into in
@yuchenj_uw Yuchen Jin on x
OpenAI and xAI are finally deprioritizing side quests and focusing on coding, while Anthropic has been focused on coding from the start. We're likely heading toward 3-4 top-tier coding models (including Gemini), it's not a winner-take-all market. Each model will excel in differ…
@institlpgp @institlpgp on x
sounds like Anthropic and now chat ceding consumer to Gemini Guess search isn't dead after all $goog
@devonheinen Devon Heinen on bluesky
OpenAI continues to stumble. And also, I know it's a tech company, but to use “side quests” — gaming terminology, so it might land with OpenAI employees — in official internal communications is so cringey. [embedded post]
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on bluesky
Fidji Simo has asked OpenAI staff to stop getting distracted by “side quests” and to focus on nailing their core business products as they are getting increasingly outflanked by Anthropic. — Few companies can execute well on a diverse set of projects at once. Google at its pea…
@peoriabummer @peoriabummer on bluesky
So... products. You're going to make products. Like a company. That sells products. [embedded post]
r/technology r on reddit
OpenAI to Cut Back on Side Projects in Push to ‘Nail’ Core Business
@buccocapital @buccocapital on x
So Anthropic and OpenAI are just going to...give the consumer market to Google?
@lokijulianus @lokijulianus on x
Yeah, this does not sound like imminent recursive self-improvement to me. [image]
@edzitron.com Ed Zitron on bluesky
this story sounds very big and crazy but it doesn't explain at any point what exactly changed. OpenAI is still making some sort of consumer device, Sora 2 is still an app (and it's coming to ChatGPT!), they're making some horrible private equity backed consultancy thing...not a …
@pmddomingos Pedro Domingos on x
OpenAI is flailing, refocusing on enterprise products only 3 months after declaring a code red to focus on ChatGPT.
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
Say good bye to Sora , gpt image and all OpenAI side projects

Chronicles

In an all-hands, OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo described a strategy shift to refocus on coding and business users, urging staff to avoid “side quests”

Related Coverage

Discussion