OpenAI wants to build a "moat" around ChatGPT to keep users from switching to competitors

OpenAI is seriously concerned that users are easily switching to competitors — and is trying to build a protective moat around its products. Denise Dresser, the company's Chief Revenue Officer, circulated a four-page internal memorandum to employees. The document, which The Verge reviewed, addresses OpenAI's strategic direction: how to retain audience, how to deepen penetration in the corporate market, and how to counter competitors — primarily Anthropic.

The central problem identified by Dresser: today it costs users practically nothing to switch from ChatGPT to another model that performed better on recent benchmarks or simply became popular on social media this week. Since the AI market has not yet formed stable loyalty, companies compete not only on model quality but also on how deeply their products are embedded in customers' daily lives and work processes. Dresser recently took on a significant portion of the responsibilities of former Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap — he is transitioning to a new role focused on special projects.

In her memorandum, she particularly emphasizes the corporate direction as key to long-term growth. Corporate clients, unlike individual users, are much harder to migrate between providers: integrations, contracts, and teams trained on specific tools create a natural barrier to platform switching. Notably, the document directly mentions Anthropic — a rare case when OpenAI names a specific competitor in internal correspondence.

This suggests the company sees Claude's creators as a real threat, not just background market noise. The situation reflects a broader trend: as AI models become increasingly comparable in capabilities, competitive advantage is shifting from 'whose model is smarter' to 'who is more deeply integrated into the customer's infrastructure.' According to the memorandum, OpenAI understands this — and is betting on retention rather than solely on acquisition.