SunBrief#58: Altman’s Space Plans Set to Rival Musk’s SpaceX

Welcome to the SunBrief

Today in SunBrief 🌞

• Launch a mobile app this week, not next year

• Sam Altman Explores Space Venture to Compete With Elon Musk’s SpaceX

• OpenAI Fast-Tracks “Garlic” Model to Counter Google’s Gemini 3 and Anthropic’s Opus 4.5

• Stock Updates

• ChatGPT's Growth Slows as Google Gemini Gains Momentum

• AI Highlights of the Week

• Too Important to Miss

• Stop spinning your wheels. Start spinning ideas — with AI marketing tools.

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Sam Altman Explores Space Venture to Compete With Elon Musk’s SpaceX

OpenAI CEO Considered Investing Billions in Rocket Maker Stoke Space to Build Orbital Data Centers

Sam Altman is in talks to invest in Stoke Space, aiming to compete with SpaceX and advance AI-powered space data centers.

Key Points:

• Rocket Deal Talks: Altman explored investing billions in Stoke Space to secure launch capabilities for future AI infrastructure. The talks have since ended, according to people close to OpenAI.

• Space Data Center Vision: Altman has floated the idea of building orbital data centers powered by solar energy, arguing that Earth may not sustain AI’s growing energy needs.

• Market Pressure: OpenAI faces financial scrutiny after signing nearly $600 billion in cloud and compute deals while generating $13 billion in annual revenue.

• Rivalry With Musk: A Stoke partnership would deepen Altman’s competition with Musk, whose SpaceX dominates rocket launches and whose xAI and Neuralink also rival OpenAI and Altman’s Merge Labs.

Why It Matters:

Altman’s space focus highlights the AI-driven race for orbital data centers, marking the next stage in Silicon Valley’s rivalry.

OpenAI Fast-Tracks “Garlic” Model to Counter Google’s Gemini 3 and Anthropic’s Opus 4.5

New Model Targets Faster Reasoning, Better Coding, and More Efficient Training

OpenAI is reportedly rushing a new model, “Garlic,” in a code-red effort to compete with Gemini 3 and Opus 4.5, focusing on big gains in reasoning and coding through revamped training.

Key Points:

• “Code Red” Initiative: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a company-wide “code red” after Google’s Gemini 3 outperformed ChatGPT, accelerating the launch of a new model.

• Smarter Pretraining: Garlic refines how models learn, focusing on broader conceptual links before fine-tuning for specific tasks.

• Compact Efficiency: Designed to deliver large-model performance at smaller scale, making it cheaper and faster to train and deploy.

• Early Performance Gains: Internal testing shows Garlic surpassing Gemini 3 and Anthropic Opus 4.5 in coding and reasoning benchmarks.

• Fast Deployment Goal: Chief Research Officer Mark Chen said Garlic could arrive “as soon as possible,” likely early 2026, with a successor already in progress.

Why It Matters:

Garlic reflects OpenAI’s move toward faster, cheaper models—key to staying competitive as rivals advance in multimodal and reasoning AI.

Stock Updates

ChatGPT's Growth Slows as Google Gemini Gains Momentum

ChatGPT’s Growth Slows as Google’s Gemini Outpaces in Downloads and User Engagement

Sensor Tower reports ChatGPT leads in market share, but Google Gemini is growing faster in downloads, active users, and app usage.

Key Points:

• Growth Comparison: ChatGPT’s global monthly active users grew 6% to 810 million from August to November 2025, while Gemini’s users rose 30%, fueled by the launch of its image model, Nano Banana.

• Market Saturation: ChatGPT’s growth slowdown suggests it may be nearing saturation, while Gemini's adoption, especially in Android markets, shows room for further growth.

• Competition: ChatGPT’s share of global active users dropped 3 percentage points, while Gemini’s grew. Competitors like Perplexity and Claude also saw triple-digit growth in 2025.

• Engagement & Time Spent: Gemini’s time spent per user doubled to 11 minutes daily, while ChatGP

Why It Matters:

Google Gemini is challenging ChatGPT’s dominance, prompting OpenAI to ramp up improvements in response.

AI Highlights of the Week

• OpenAI Acquires AI Training Tools Startup Neptune

  OpenAI is acquiring Neptune, a startup known for its AI model monitoring and debugging tools. The two firms had previously collaborated on a metrics dashboard for training large models.

  While deal terms weren’t disclosed, Neptune will shut down external services soon. The move deepens OpenAI’s focus on improving model training workflows.

• Gemini 3 Deep Think Launches with Advanced Reasoning Power

  Gemini 3 Deep Think is live for Ultra subscribers, boosting performance on complex math, science, and logic tasks.

  With scores like 41.0% on Humanity’s Last Exam, it uses parallel reasoning for smarter problem-solving. Enable it via "Deep Think" and Gemini 3 Pro in the app.

• Google Launches Workspace Studio to Build Gemini-Powered Agents

  Google’s new Workspace Studio lets users build Gemini-powered AI agents with no code, automating tasks across Gmail, Drive, Chat, and more.

  These agents handle smart workflows, like labeling emails or extracting info, using plain prompts and Gemini’s reasoning. Now rolling out to Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers.

• Nvidia CEO: China Unlikely to Accept H200 Chips, Even If U.S. Eases Rules

  CEO Jensen Huang says China won’t accept downgraded H200 chips, calling them “useless” under U.S. export rules.

  Despite the $50B market, past attempts failed, and lawmakers remain split over security and sales.

Too Important to Miss

Apple Design Chief Behind ‘Liquid Glass’ Is Leaving for Meta

Microsoft Disputes Report of Reduced AI Sales Growth Targets

Netflix to Buy Warner Bros. and HBO Max in Blockbuster $83 Billion Deal

OpenAI Introduces ‘Confessions’ Method to Make AI Models More Honest

Meta Signs AI Data Deals With Publishers to Deliver Real-Time News in Meta AI

Last Week’s Poll Result

• Do you think Google’s Nvidia-style financing strategy will help TPUs compete with Nvidia GPUs?

  Yes, financial leverage will accelerate TPU adoption → 42.31%

  Maybe, but performance will remain close → 32.69%

  No, Nvidia’s dominance is too strong → 25.00%

• Do you agree with Meta’s decision to ban third-party AIs like ChatGPT on WhatsApp?

  Yes, Meta AI should control the platform → 42.59%

  Maybe, but the policy feels too restrictive → 35.19%

  No, it limits user and business choice → 22.22%

• Does this breach make you more concerned about third-party analytics tools in AI platforms?

  Yes, third-party tools are a major security risk → 66.67%

  Maybe, but it depends on the provider → 25.00%

  No, these incidents are new and manageable → 8.33%

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