BUSINESS

For most of the past three years, OpenAI has set the pace in artificial intelligence while everyone else played catch-up.

Now, rivals SpaceX and Meta, long written off in the AI conversation, have built products that do something ChatGPT still struggles to sell to ordinary consumers: get real work done without being asked twice.

A new report shows just how seriously OpenAI is taking the threat, and the response involves less building from scratch and more repackaging what it already has.

The details, once you dig into them, say as much about the state of the AI agent race in September 2026 as they do about OpenAI itself.

OpenAI develops new features aimed at SpaceX and Meta

OpenAI is developing new features aimed squarely at two competitors, and the company’s own leadership has discussed launching a dedicated personal assistant to answer one of them directly.

The report describes an OpenAI that feels boxed in on two fronts at once — one from a rocket company-turned AI platform and the other from the world’s largest social media operator.

Rather than engineering an entirely new agent system, OpenAI is expected to repurpose and rebrand agentic capabilities already built into ChatGPT and its coding tool Codex, Investing.com reported.

Those capabilities trace back to GPT-5’s release last year. It was designed to handle longer, multi-step tasks across connected apps such as email and calendars, though everyday users may not know this.

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OpenAI’s urgency also has a personal angle. Earlier this year, the company hired Peter Steinberger, the developer behind OpenClaw, a viral open-source personal-agent platform that attracted more than 100,000 GitHub stars within weeks of launch.

CEO Sam Altman said on X (the former Twitter) that Steinberger would “drive the next generation of personal agents” at the company and that the work would “quickly become core to our product offerings.”

That battleground now has two very different challengers standing on it, and neither looked this formidable in AI a year ago.

Grok Bot gives SpaceX a new identity

SpaceXAI, Elon Musk’s AI division, which now sits inside SpaceX after last year’s merger, rolled out Grok Bot in August. The tool is built to act like a coordinated team of AI agents rather than a single chatbot. It can log into different apps and websites, retain context across sessions, and let multiple bots share information with each other, Bloomberg reported.

The timing is noteworthy because SpaceX is no longer just a private rocket company that investors take on faith. It listed publicly on the Nasdaq in June, and Wall Street has increasingly priced it as an AI and infrastructure business rather than a pure aerospace play. Shares trade under the ticker SPCX, according to Barchart.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas has been one of the loudest bulls on that thesis. He pointed to Grok’s monthly user base and SpaceX’s growing business of leasing compute capacity to companies, including Anthropic and Google, as reasons to value the company well above its aerospace peers.

Not every recent signal has cooperated with that story. Grok’s monthly active users slipped roughly 5% quarter over quarter in the second quarter, and some investors question whether SpaceX’s AI ambitions are as durable as its space business.

Meta’s challenge to OpenAI arrived on Sept. 8 in the form of Muse.Walter Cicchetti / Getty Images

Meta’s Muse adds pressure with explosive growth

Meta’s challenge to OpenAI arrived on Sept. 8 in the form of Muse.

The personal AI agent is capable of sending emails, booking travel, managing payments, and organizing a calendar largely on its own, running on a dedicated virtual machine so it keeps working after a user closes the app.

Wall Street reacted almost immediately. Meta shares jumped on the day of the Muse launch, and two days later, on Sept. 10, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral, raising his price target from $640 to $820.

He cited Muse’s early traction as evidence that Meta is beginning to build AI products it can finally monetize beyond advertising.

The usage numbers backed up the enthusiasm. Muse overtook ChatGPT as the top free iOS app in the United States and accumulated more downloads than Anthropic’s Claude and SpaceXAI’s Grok app within its first two weeks.

Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski went further, raising his Meta price target from $640 to $796. He noted Sensor Tower data showing that Muse hit 264,000 downloads in a single day and 448,000 daily active users within its first 12 days, according to Investing.com.

It took ChatGPT nearly a year to match this pace on daily downloads, and 49 days to reach it on DAUs.

What SpaceX, Meta competition means for OpenAI investors

Neither rival has had a clean run. Amazon blocked Muse from operating on its e-commerce marketplace over security and privacy concerns less than two weeks after launch, CNBC reported. It’s a good reminder that speed and trust are not the same thing when an agent makes purchases on a user’s behalf.

For investors trying to play this trade, there is an added wrinkle. Meta and SpaceX both trade on public markets, giving Wall Street a direct way to bet on their AI ambitions, while OpenAI remains privately held with no public ticker and no confirmed IPO timeline.

That means the competitive landscape can show up in its rivals’ stock prices long before it would ever show up on its own.

OpenAI still has the brand recognition and the largest existing user base in conversational AI, but recognition alone has not stopped Muse from outpacing ChatGPT’s download curve or kept Grok Bot out of enterprise workflows.

How quickly OpenAI can turn its existing tools into something that feels as immediate as its rivals’ new products may decide whether this remains a competitive landscape for much longer.

Related: Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia CEO weigh in on Anthropic AI proposal

Are you a creature of habit when it comes to home internet?

Money expert Clark Howard says you may need to shake things up!

On a recent episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, Clark sounded the alarm on people in “set it and forget it” mode with one of the major home internet providers.

“Creatures of habit are getting crushed right now,” Clark said. “… There is a segment of the market that lets inertia rule. And if you are that person, I’m speaking to you right now.“If you’re just letting [your internet bill from] Comcast, Charter, AT&T, Verizon or whoever it is [go unchecked], understand that the cable monster know the game they’re playing. And it is steadily pushing you to higher and higher and higher and higher price points.”

Did you know today’s pricing models prey on complacent customers? And did you even know you were part of this pricing game?

In this article, we’ll dig deeper and discuss strategies for gaining solid footing in an ever-changing home internet market.

What Legacy Internet Service Providers Are Doing

The price-control party is almost over for legacy home internet service providers, and they know it.

For most Americans, there are more options for sufficient internet service than ever before. We’re no longer beholden to the phone company or cable service as the lone service providers in our area.

So, rather than treating you like a customer they want to keep long-term, many legacy providers use a familiar strategy to milk customers for as much money as possible for as long as they can.

“They’ll lure you in with something like an introductory deal,” Clark says. “It’s good for six months, maybe even a year, for your home internet. And then, when the six months or year is up, they raise the rates a lot. And then they keep raising them. Could be even twice a year. They push the rate up higher and higher and higher and higher, because they know that now there is more competition for home internet.”

Additionally, they may be selling you on higher internet speeds than your household actually needs.

Clark likens this practice to that of the phone companies back in the 1990s and 2000s, as the landline was on its way out and the legacy phone companies were barraging their remaining existing customers with bill increases to try to stay afloat in a diminishing marketplace.

Shifting Market Conditions Give You Leverage to Shop Your Service

If you’re a loyal customer being gauged by your internet provider, we have good news: You can now fight back for your wallet.

A few emerging service options offer a chance to get a cheaper monthly bill for your home internet needs without a long-term contract commitment.

Your mileage may vary based on your location, but those options could include:

Wireless carriers (such as T-Mobile and Verizon) offering home internet plans

Emerging fiber internet providers (Google Fiber, for example)

Starlink satellite internet (pricey, but great speed and connectivity for rural consumers)

Team Clark has a four-step process you can follow to determine the best internet deal in your market.

Clark really likes the wireless carrier option for most consumers. He says wireless customers of both Verizon and T-Mobile could be eligible for in-home internet for as little as $25 per month if they’re willing to bundle the service with their cell phone bill.

And he says that, with the exception of online gamers, most consumers will receive more than enough speed to stream their favorite shows and browse the internet on multiple devices.

Bottom Line

If you’ve been paying your legacy cable or phone company for high-speed internet via autopay for any length of time, there’s a good chance that you’re paying more money than you should for home internet.

Use the power of emerging consumer choice in this marketplace to your advantage.

Shop around for a better price via a competitor to see how much you could save on your monthly bill.

If you find a good alternative, we usually suggest giving it a “test drive” before canceling your current internet to make sure it meets your household’s needs.

You’ll likely be happy with the product if your primary home internet use is browsing and streaming.

But even if it doesn’t quite meet your needs, you can still use it as leverage to convince your existing provider to give you a better price.

What is your strategy for getting the best pricing on home internet? We’d love to hear your tips in the Clark.com community.
The post Why Clark Says You Need To Check Your Internet Bill Now appeared first on Clark Howard.

Increased business expenses, such as the rising costs of rent, labor, and food products, have become a huge financial burden for restaurant owners.

As restaurants pass the increased costs on to their customers with higher menu prices, consumers are becoming reluctant to spend money on dining out, which reduces potential business revenue.

“High-wage states/markets are amongst the hardest in the restaurant industry,” Michael J. Ingram, vice president and principal at National Franchise Sales told TheStreet’s Kirk O’Neil in an email.

“Franchisees can only raise their menu prices so far to make up for higher expenses, but as they lose customers, it becomes an uphill battle to cover debt they already have in place along with overall higher expenses,” Ingram said.

Financial distress is forcing certain restaurant operators to file for bankruptcy to reorganize their businesses and restructure debt.

A St. Petersburg, Fla., franchisee has filed for bankruptcy protection on behalf of five Village Inn restaurant locations.Shutterstock

Village Inn Oldsmar files for bankruptcy

Iconic breakfast restaurant chain Village Inn‘s Oldsmar, Fla., franchisee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, facing long-term financial setbacks as a result of the 2024 hurricanes that significantly affected the Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, Fla., area.

The economic losses caused by the hurricanes have been compounded by weaker restaurant sales and higher overhead costs, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

The restaurant remains open with no plans to close, according to an employee who answered the phone at the Oldsmar Village Inn on Sept. 22.

Franchisee files Chapter 11 for 5 locations

The franchisee group, operated by managing member Lloyd D. Lehan IV, has filed bankruptcy for five Village Inn locations in Florida since June 2026.

Franchisee Village Inn Oldsmar LLC filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa on Sept. 18, 2026, listing about $50,000 to $100,000 in assets and $500,000 to $1 million in liabilities, according to PacerMonitor.

The Oldsmar Village Inn’s bankruptcy filing comes just a month after the chain’s Bay Pines Group LLC franchisee, which operates the Bay Pines Boulevard Village Inn location in Seminole, Fla., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 14. Lehan also owns the Bay Pines Group franchisee.

Bay Pines Group listed over $8 million in liabilities in its petition, according to the Tampa Business Journal.

Restaurants face declining revenue

The Oldsmar filing also came over three months after St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Village Inn franchisee and lead debtor VI Land O Lakes LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on behalf of three Florida locations, as the restaurant operator’s revenue has fallen significantly over the last two years.

The 68-year-old restaurant chain’s franchisee, which is affiliated with the Oldsmar and Bay Pines franchises, filed its petitions for Village Inn locations in Land O Lakes, Brandon, and Zephyrhills, Fla., in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida on June 10, according to BKAlerts.

VI Land O Lakes LLC listed over $85,000 in assets and over $234,000 in liabilities in its petitions. The debtor’s largest unsecured creditors included Florida Department of Revenue, owed $48,000; First Citizen Bank, owed $47,000; US Foods, owed $41,000; Sysco Food Service, owed $35,000, and the Internal Revenue Service, owed $29,000, court papers said.

The Land O Lakes, Brandon, and Zephyrhills locations faced declining revenues over the last two years, dropping from about $2.02 million in 2024 to $1.9 million in 2025 for a 5.94% decline. Revenue is on pace this year for another decline as the company reported over $658,000 earned through June 10, according to the petition.

A manager of the Land O Lakes Village Inn location told TheStreet in June that all of the bankrupt locations were operating as normal with no plans for closures.

Several Village Inn franchisee locations in the Tampa area have also filed for Chapter 11 protection to resolve financial issues related to hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported.

Bankrupt Village Inn locations:

Village Inn Land O Lakes

Village Inn Brandon

Village Inn Zephyrhills

Village Inn Bay Pines

Village Inn Oldsmar

Source: Village Inn

Related: Troubled hot chicken chain franchisee files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

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When the kids were little, travel was straightforward, if not exactly “easy.” You knew what a trip cost, whether the kids were two years old and rolling into Disney World for free or 15 and paying adult prices at many attractions. You also knew who was paying for it all, including the hotel, food and travel: The Bank of Mom or Dad (or Both).

As the multigenerational travel trend grows, with 57% of travelers taking a multigenerational trip, according to one RoadScholar.org survey, vacationing with adult children raises cost questions you may not have considered. According to another travel survey from CIT Bank, 34% of Americans polled said parents should cover their adult children’s costs on vacation. That number rises to 42% for Gen Z.

Read: Can you retire abroad on Social Security alone? We checked four countries

New Travel Trend: Adult Children Paying for Parents

Becky Miller, general manager at Sundial Beach Resort and Spa on Sanibel Island, FL, said she’s seeing a different trend. “In the past, it was often the older generations, grandparents, who are often baby boomers, who drove the stay. They planned, booked and paid for the family’s trip. Today, we’re seeing many more of the 2nd and 3rd gen planning and booking and sometimes paying for grandparents to join.”

This arrangement can have many benefits for all generations. It allows retired grandparents, who may be on a fixed income, to take the trip, while giving parents of young children a chance to relax a bit during the vacation.

“Grandparents will often babysit or entertain kids. They might order poolside pizza one night so that the kids’ parents can enjoy a date night or take care of the little ones during nap time while parents do something active that might not have been possible if they were alone with their little ones,” Miller said.

Everyone wins when older children can cover vacation costs for their Gen X or Boomer parents. But, just as frequently, Gen X parents foot the bill for their young adult children on trips.

Which way should the cost split go on a multigenerational vacation? Or should every family unit pay for themselves?

Paying the Way for Your Adult Children

Matthew Lucchetti, a Long Island, NY, dad of three kids, ages 18, 21, and 26, recently treated his family to an all-inclusive vacation to Punta Cana.

“This was our ‘big trip’ for the year,” he said, adding that he usually brings the family to Disney World and the kids don’t pay for that, either.

“My daughter is 26 years old,” he said. “She’s never paid for a hotel room or anything. She does pay for things for herself at the park. She’s also very generous and will pay for family meals.”

Lucchetti still covers everything for his youngest son with no expectations. His 21-year-old, like the oldest daughter, has a job and has started to contribute if he wants something for himself when they travel. Lucchetti said he sees a day when everyone is covering their own costs. But he’d also like to continue treating his family – and even, someday, their spouses and children – to vacations for as long as he can.

“Spending time with your children and having children that want to spend time with you is a blessing I take very seriously,” he said. “If I can have these one or two weeks forever, that I get to go away with my children, I would love for that to continue. As long as I have the means, I will do it.”

Related: 2027 Social Security COLA: These 3 Months Will Decide Your Raise

Younger Generations Often Feel ‘Forced’ to Travel

The Lucchetti family still enjoys their family vacations, but that’s not the case with all families. One-in-five millennials (22%) and Gen Z (21%) surveyed by CIT Bank said they felt forced into a family trip. For millennials, they felt coerced into a trip when there was no specific purpose, while Gen Z felt forced to go to concerts, festivals or sporting events. This pressure can lead to financial stress, especially if the younger generation is expected to foot their portion of the bill for a trip they don’t want to take.   

Communicate Plans

Even if adult children are looking forward to a trip, everyone’s finances are different. If you expect adult children to pay a portion, be clear about it upfront. Give those who are earlier in their careers more time to save for a trip if you don’t plan to pay for it.

“Discuss and plan finances well in advance of the trip,” Miller said. “Often, it’s easiest for whomever is leading the planning to initiate that discuss, outlining before they even leave who is covering what.”

Also, decide how you’ll share costs, whether it’s by exchanging cash, person-to-person digital transfers like Zelle or Venmo, or separate checks whenever possible. Consider using a cost-splitting app to cover group costs (like an Airbnb or hotel room), groceries, or meals that are on a single restaurant check.

Find Ways to Save

Whether you’re covering all the costs or the whole family is chipping in, looking for ways to save can alleviate the financial burden for everyone.  Lucchetti said he often books an Airbnb for his family and cooks meals to save money.

“We also drive to a lot of places, and that saves airfare costs,” he said.

It’s About the Memories, Not the Money

For parents who have the means, covering costs for a family vacation reduces the hassle of splitting bills or determining how much everyone owes. It also eliminates a source of stress for adult children who may have a tighter budget and be worried about paying for their share of the trip.   

As your children grow, it might be their turn to reciprocate at some point. “Europe is on our travel list. I guess I’ll have to figure out if I’m paying for them or they’re paying for me,” Lucchetti joked.

Ultimately, though, years from now, your kids aren’t likely to remember who covered the airfare or how you split dinner, as long as you avoided conflicts by communicating expectations in advance. They will, however, remember the laughter, the togetherness, and the opportunity to spend time with you as the parent-child relationship evolves.

“It’s a blessing to have your children want to vacation with you. Creating those memories is what life is all about,” Lucchetti said.

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