OpenAI isn't satisfied with being the top chatbot. It's making a play for total tech supremacy, one platform at a time.

• Why it matters: OpenAI doesn't just want ChatGPT to be the everything app. It wants to be the everything company and knock all of its competitors aside, Axios' Megan Morrone writes.

Yesterday's launch of OpenAI's new browser — Atlas — is a fast follow-up to the company's Sora social media app, commerce plays and rumors of future hardware devices with still-unknown form factors:

🖥️ 1. It's a web browser. OpenAI's new browser is another swipe at Google, which has struggled to keep pace since ChatGPT's debut.

• The move positions the company against other AI-fueled rivals with browsers like Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Edge and Perplexity's Comet.

📱 2. It's a social media network. OpenAI's Sora 2 — which delivers an endless feed of short, AI-generated videos — not only upended reality on the web, it also became the first real competitor to Meta's social media dominance since TikTok.

• The invite-only app rocketed to — and stayed at — the top of Apple's download charts.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman promised to include features that would keep users from infinitely scrolling until their brains rotted. But the app's already got early adopters hooked.

🛍️ 3. It's a shopping experience. OpenAI has also partnered with the world's biggest retailer (Walmart) to compete with the world's biggest online retailer (Amazon).

• ChatGPT users can buy products straight from Walmart through its new Instant Checkout program.
• The company also made deals with Etsy and over a million Shopify merchants for shopping through chat.

🍎 4. It's (trying to be) the next Apple. Reports of OpenAI's hardware partnership with former Apple designer Jony Ive have been percolating for over a year.

• The company paid $5 billion in stock for Ive's startup in May, including the acquisition of Ive and three other veteran Apple designers.
• The company is working on a smart speaker without a display, smart glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin, targeted for a late 2026 or early 2027 release, according to The Information.

👀 What we're watching: OpenAI's land grab could invite the same kind of antitrust nightmares that have dogged Microsoft and Google.

• There's also the small matter of cost. All these ventures are expensive, and OpenAI's already on the hook to spend $1 trillion over the next five years, against about $13 billion in annual revenue.

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Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction, fueled by dissatisfaction with President Trump's impact on the economy, immigration, race relations and the nation's global standing, Axios' Russell Contreras writes from a new poll with a big, broad sample.

• Even among Republicans, a significant share — nearly 30% — gave Trump low marks on the economy and how the government is functioning.

Why it matters: The survey offers a snapshot of the nation's sour mood just more than a year before the 2026 midterms — and suggests that anger could rewire political alliances and test the durability of Trump's support.

🔎 Between the lines: The 16th annual American Values Survey, by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), is worth studying because it tracks religion, values and mood, with a vast sample across racial and religious lines. The poll has been a reliable pre-election barometer.

• The findings are similar to other major polls: An AP-NORC poll out this week found 69% of Americans thought the nation was headed in the wrong direction. A Gallup Poll last month found 67% of Americans are dissatisfied with how things are going.

🧮 By the numbers: In the PRRI poll, taken in partnership with the Brookings Institution, 62% say the country is going the wrong direction, led by Democrats (92%) and independents (71%).

• 24% of Republicans said the nation was heading in the wrong direction, the poll found.

The 68-point gap between Republicans and Democrats on that question is the widest ever recorded in PRRI's 16 years of surveys on religion and politics.

• More data: Economy, race relations, deportations, health care & more.

Consumers are buying higher-priced drinks, pickups and more — a signal from corporate America that the economy appears to be chugging along just fine, Axios Macro co-author Courtenay Brown writes.

• Why it matters: These anecdotes from the nation's biggest brands carry more weight in the absence of official government data, delayed for the foreseeable future as the shutdown drags on.

🖼️ The big picture: Some of the nation's biggest brands and economic bellwethers are reporting strong sales. That signals that, at least in aggregate, sluggish job growth and still-high inflation are not denting spending.

• Some companies say the hit from President Trump's tariff policies is not as bad as previously feared.
• The latest example is GM, which reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, thanks to strong demand for its pickup trucks.

The other side: Coca-Cola warned that higher-income consumers might be helping hold the line on spending as lower-income shoppers pull back — a months-long economic trend that could be worsening.

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Average gasoline prices are now hovering around $3 per gallon — and could stay there for the holidays, Axios Future of Energy co-author Ben Geman writes.

• Why it matters: The White House and GOP officials are on a PR offensive to tout gasoline prices that — depending on how you slice the data — are at their lowest since May 2021 or last December.

GasBuddy reports that "barring any major disruptions, gas prices are likely to remain slightly below year-ago levels and could stay under $3 for much of the next few months."

🏠 The intrigue: Costs to fill up gasoline tanks vs. keeping the lights and heat on at home are moving in opposite directions.

• The Energy Department's independent stats arm projects that residential electricity costs will average 4.8% more this winter than the 2024-2025 cold season.

Go deeper: Energy politics get interesting as gas prices drop, electric bills rise.

Gold and silver futures plunged yesterday, with gold in particular having its worst day in more than 12 years, after both precious metals recently ran to record highs, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes.

• Why it matters: Investors may be coming to grips with a disconnect between the surge in the traditional safe havens and actual fundamentals.

Keep reading.

The Democratic National Committee paid $1.6 million in September to cover debt from former Vice President Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign — bringing the DNC's total payout to the campaign to more than $20 million and counting, Axios' Alex Thompson writes.

• Why it matters: The DNC is trying to rebuild in the aftermath of 2024, and is being hampered by debts the party racked up last year.

Harris spent an unprecedented $1.5 billion during her 107-day campaign, and invoices continue to roll into the DNC nearly a year later.

• The DNC had only $12 million in cash on hand by the end of September as the party made investments in state parties + gubernatorial campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey.

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Defense startup Shield AI pulled back the curtain yesterday on X-BAT, an autonomous aircraft it has for weeks teased as the future of air power, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes.

• Why it matters: The Defense Department is seeking smart machinery to augment troops across ground, sea and air.

It's Shield's largest airframe to date, as well as its entry into the lucrative robotic wingman space.

• X-BAT is designed to take off and land vertically, requiring no runway. "Fully operational flight" is expected in 2028.

Keep reading.

JPMorgan Chase's massive new headquarters — which opened yesterday in Manhattan — is "a $3 billion monument to work" designed to entice staff to stay well after hours, The Wall Street Journal writes (gift link).

• The 60-story skyscraper, which will house 10,000 workers for the country's biggest bank, contains 19 eateries, coffee shops, a company store, a gym and an English pub.

Why it matters: CEO Jamie Dimon "wants to leave behind a temple dedicated to the workplace, a love letter to the hard-charging Wall Street culture he helped define," the Journal writes.

• Dimon was effectively the building's "master architect," JPMorgan's head of real estate told the paper.

🏗️ The Dimon district? Bloomberg headline on the company's office footprint: "First Comes Dimon's New Tower. Next Up, a JPMorgan Neighborhood ... a multi-block campus."