In a move reflecting radical and rapid shifts in the global technology race, recent reports have revealed that leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI has successfully completed training its massive upcoming model codenamed “Spud”. This news comes amid a crucial phase of administrative restructuring led by company CEO Sam Altman, aimed at directing strategic focus toward securing funding, building supply chains, and achieving massive ambitions related to giant data centers.
On the flip side of these positive developments for the company, shocking and unexpected decisions have emerged to abandon key parts of the video generation project Sora. According to a report published by The Information on Monday, the shutdown includes the standalone mobile application and its API, alongside the video generation capabilities that were supposed to be integrated into the ChatGPT platform.
Details of the secret model and advanced AI capabilities
Precise technical details about the “Spud” model remain scarce and shrouded in complete secrecy, with The Information report representing the first public disclosure of the model’s codename and training status. This step comes to bolster the company’s arsenal, which currently includes its latest release, the GPT-5.4 model, launched earlier this year equipped with a one-million-token context window and inference and analysis capabilities that match or even exceed those of highly knowledgeable human employees in many standard benchmarks.
In an audio appearance in December 2025, Sam Altman indicated his expectations for the emergence of artificial intelligence models delivering qualitative leaps surpassing the capabilities of the GPT-5.2 model during the first half of the following year, though he refrained at the time from confirming the “GPT-6” moniker for this anticipated update. The completion of the new model’s training coincides with intensifying fierce competition in the tech market, as the company faces growing pressure from Anthropic—which has captured the lion’s share as a primary AI provider for major enterprises—in addition to Alphabet’s Google, whose Gemini models sparked an internal state of emergency within OpenAI’s halls.
Unexpected end to the video generation project
In an irony reflecting the difficulty of sustaining certain technical projects, the decision to shut down the Sora app came as the culmination of continuous months of declining engagement and user interest. According to data released by App Figures, app download rates saw a sharp 45 percent month-over-month decline in January 2026, while consumer spending dropped 32 percent over the same time period.
The company had discontinued the first version of the app in the United States on March 13, while the second version suffered from persistent technical glitches and countless bugs, including videos hanging at 99 percent processing without completion and widespread server errors. Despite reports emerging earlier this month indicating plans to embed video generation capabilities directly into ChatGPT, the current direction confirms the complete cancellation of these efforts, focusing instead on text and reasoning models.
Multi-billion dollar investments and comprehensive restructuring
Sam Altman’s decision to shift his organizational duties and focus on infrastructure reflects the immense scale of the company’s future projects. The company successfully raised a massive $110 billion in funding last February with participation from tech giants such as Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, bringing the company’s total valuation to $730 billion. During the Black Rock Infrastructure Summit held earlier this month, Altman acknowledged the difficulty of building hyperscale data centers, citing how harsh weather conditions temporarily disrupted work at the Stargate project site in Abilene, Texas.
In the context of long-term financial planning, the company has informed investors that it aims to spend approximately $600 billion on computing capacity by 2030, a calculated figure reflecting preparation for a potential initial public offering later this year. The company also intends to double its workforce to 8,000 employees by the end of the current year, according to the Financial Times, confirming that the company is heading toward a new era of giant corporate expansion, abandoning side projects in favor of building unrivaled infrastructure in the tech sector.
FAQs
What is the new model the company has finished training?
The company has completed training a powerful new artificial intelligence model codenamed “Spud”, which enhances current model capabilities like GPT-5.4 amid fierce competition in the tech sector.
Why was the decision made to shut down the video generation project?
The decision to close the standalone app and API services for the Sora project was made due to a sharp 45 percent drop in downloads and declining spending, in addition to technical problems and persistent bugs in the second version.
What are the most prominent administrative and financial shifts at the company?
Sam Altman restructured his responsibilities to focus on securing capital and data centers, coinciding with the company raising $110 billion in funding and planning to spend $600 billion on computing by 2030 in preparation for an IPO.
