Just as everyone else begins to slow down and use their second monitors to play the 24/7 Burning Yule Log, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly sent out an internal memo this week telling staff that the company was in a “code red” effort and would need to focus all its energy on improving ChatGPT—even if it meant pausing other projects. The memo landed as rivals like Google Gemini increasingly put pressure on ChatGPT to stay atop the chatbot market.

Altman’s directive and subsequent social media posts from other OpenAI execs say that staff have been asked to prioritize expanding the audience for the tool, which currently boasts 800 million weekly users, as well as making it feel more personal and intuitive:

• Altman said that other projects like shopping, AI agents, and its personal assistant Pulse would take a backseat for the time being.
• OpenAI will also start hosting a special daily call for employees working on ChatGPT. No way they’re getting away with keeping their cameras off.

OpenAI is losing ground. The latest release of Google’s Gemini chatbot lapped OpenAI’s ChatGPT in a number of industry benchmark tests, and users are taking notice:

• Google said its Gemini app has jumped from 450 million monthly users in July to 650 million in October, thanks largely to the first release of AI image generator Nano Banana in August.
• Anthropic is also gaining traction, jumping from under 1,000 enterprise customers two years ago to 300,000+ in September. The upstart recently acquired AI developer Bun to beef up its coding automation tool.

Big picture: While Gemini has the added bonus of existing in one of the most lucrative online ecosystems, OpenAI is burning through investment dollars. The company is committed to $1.4 trillion in infrastructure deals over the next eight years and is yet to be profitable.—MM

Costco is suing the Trump admin for a tariff refund. The wholesale retailer where you can get a $1.50 hot dog and 72 pairs of socks in the same trip is asking for a “full refund” of all the duties it’s paid under President Trump’s reciprocal tariff policies, according to a lawsuit filed with the Court of International Trade. Costco becomes the biggest company to sue the administration over tariffs, joining Ray-Ban-maker EssilorLuxottica, Kawasaki, and others in seeking relief from tariffs that they say are illegal. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the tariffs next year. During oral arguments last month, most justices appeared skeptical of Trump’s argument that he had the authority to impose the sweeping levies.

Hegseth cites “fog of war” in defense of second strike on alleged drug boat. During a Cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he didn’t see that there were survivors before a follow-up strike was ordered on a boat allegedly smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea. “The thing was on fire,” Hegseth said, adding that he “didn’t stick around” after the first strike. The Washington Post reported last week that Hegseth ordered a second strike that killed survivors, which experts say would have been illegal. President Trump said neither he nor Hegseth ordered the second strike. According to the White House, Admiral Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley was “well within his authority” to sanction it.

Warner Bros. Discovery fielded sweetened takeover bids. In a second round of bidding, Paramount Skydance, Netflix, and Comcast all made revised offers in the hopes of buying the company behind HBO. Paramount—the only of the three suitors that wants to buy all of WBD, not just its studios and streaming businesses—is reportedly offering an all-cash deal with the help of three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds. Netflix is said to be proposing a mostly cash offer, while Comcast’s latest cash-and-stock bid would combine its NBCUniversal unit with WBD, per reports. Any deal would likely face regulatory scrutiny, though it’s believed that the White House favors Paramount, which is owned by David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder and longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison.—AE

A different Michael is trying to make Scott’s Tots somewhat of a reality: In one of the largest-ever donations to American wallets, Michael and Susan Dell committed $6.25 billion yesterday to kiddie investment accounts, dubbed “Trump accounts,” created by this year’s tax bill.

Who qualifies? About 25 million American children age 10 and under, born before this year, who live in areas where the median income is $150,000 or less. Eligible kids will automatically receive $250 in the Trump accounts their parents set up, the Dells said.

This supplements the government’s plan to drop $1,000 into each Trump account opened for American babies born this year through 2028. Dell Technologies will also match that $1,000 for new children of its employees.

What’s a Trump account? An investment account that will be available in July 2026 to grow a child’s nest egg with taxes deferred until withdrawal. Once recipients turn 18, they can spend the money on education, homebuying, or startup costs, or roll it over into an IRA. President Trump previously credited Dell with bringing him the idea.

Zoom out: Though some tax experts aren’t sure Trump accounts are better than existing investment options, seed money is sure to sweeten the deal. Dell told CNBC that he’s in touch with other philanthropists who he’s hopeful will also donate to Trump accounts.—ML

Watch a lot of AI robot fail videos on YouTube? Have “Baby Shark Dance” on a loop to entertain your child while you work from home? Those viewing habits will inform your Recap, YouTube’s answer to Spotify Wrapped.

Recap debuted yesterday in North America and will roll out globally this week. It includes music, but doesn’t replace YouTube’s Music Recap, and it mirrors a lot of what Spotify does with Wrapped:

• You’ll see your top channels, artists, and the evolution of your viewing habits. You’ll also be assigned a “personality type” engineered for screenshotting and sharing.
• Those made-up personae reflect your content preferences and include The Sunshiner (good vibes), The Trailblazer (unique tastes), and The Connector (not explained, but probably someone who watches mostly Connect Four videos).

Beating the rush: Recap arrived the same day as Apple Music’s Replay and Amazon Music’s Delivered, in what seems to be an attempt to get ahead of Spotify Wrapped, which came out on Dec. 4 last year and will likely dominate your social feeds soon.

YouTube listened: Big names on the platform, like Marques Brownlee and Hank Green, have long asked for a year-end video recap. If only they would also clamor for Taco Bell Wrapped, so we can see how many burritos we’ve eaten in 2025.—DL

Gone are the days from the movies when parents could leave the babysitter 10–15 bucks to order a pizza that could feed two children before an intruder in a creepy mask ruined their evening.

The average cost of a large cheese pizza in the US has risen to $17, according to the New York Times, citing data from the platform Slice. The higher costs are adding to a perfect storm of factors that’s cut into Big Pizza’s sales, including ongoing economic anxiety, new competition from wraps and burritos, and the rise of GLP-1s hampering Americans’ cravings for late-night ’za.

Consumers are responding by ordering smaller pizzas with fewer toppings, per the NYT. Bah gawd, that’s the Pizza Hut personal pan cheese pizza’s music.—AE