OpenAI cuts its 'side quests' — Sora, browser, and gadgets deprioritized as company pivots hard to coding and enterprise

OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo told staff the company is cutting back on consumer side projects to focus on coding tools and enterprise customers. The shift deprioritizes Sora video generation, the ChatGPT browser project, and planned hardware gadgets. Simo called Anthropic's recent gains a 'wake-up call' and told staff 'we cannot miss this moment because we are distracted by side quests.' Sam Altman and chief research officer Mark Chen are identifying lower-priority work, with affected teams to be notified in coming weeks.

This is OpenAI's clearest signal yet that the wide experimental phase is over. Consumer hardware and flashy demos haven't produced the revenue trajectory investors expect — Sora briefly hit number one in the App Store then flatlined, and agent mode lost most of its users because nobody knew what it was for. By doubling down on enterprise and coding, OpenAI is acknowledging that the path to profitability runs through business customers. The Ramp March 2026 AI Index puts the scale of the problem plainly: among companies buying AI tools for the first time, Anthropic now wins roughly 70% of direct comparisons against OpenAI. The move mirrors what Microsoft did with Azure — establish consumer mindshare, then monetize through enterprise. The difference is OpenAI is making this pivot under pressure, not by design.