The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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Recent Editions

Art by Getty Images.

Even Without Mythos, Researchers Say AI is Getting Scary Good at Hacking

By Aaron Holmes and Laura Bratton · Apr 9, 2026 10:30am PDT · 1 comment

Anthropic says that its new AI model, Mythos, is so good at carrying out cyberattacks that the company has decided not to release the full version of the model publicly—instead, it’s only sharing the model with top tech companies so they can start building up their defenses.But in the meantime, existing AI models—which are already publicly... Anthropic says that its new AI model, Mythos, is so good at carrying out cyberattacks that the...

China's Geely displayed its M9 Galaxy SUV in Las Vegas in January. Photo: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: High Gas Prices Are Giving Chinese EV Makers Even Greater Advantage

By Steve LeVine · Apr 9, 2026 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

Oil prices have plunged from their highs on the news of the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and a partial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. But they remain roughly $100 a barrel—about 50% higher than they were before the war began—and economists expect prices at the pump to remain elevated for much of the year. Oil prices have plunged from their highs on the news of the two-week ceasefire between the U.S....

Chapter cofounder and CEO Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz. Photo courtesy of Chapter.

The $3 Billion AI Medicare Broker Backed By Two Vice Presidents

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 9, 2026 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Meta Platforms’ Wednesday release of Spark, the first model in its broader Muse model family, doesn’t blow other frontier models out of the water, according to developers and researchers I talked to. But at least puts the company back in the AI conversation. The model is already powering the Meta AI app and website but it’ll take some time... Meta Platforms’ Wednesday release of Spark, the first model in its broader Muse model family,...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Forecasts Advertising to Hit $102 billion by 2030

By Sri Muppidi · Apr 9, 2026 6:00am PDT · 10 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Forecasts Advertising to Hit $102 billion by 2030

By Sri Muppidi · Apr 9, 2026 6:00am PDT · 10 comments

OpenAI’s advertising effort is so new that the company is still working out the kinks in it. That hasn’t stopped it from setting ambitious aims for the business, which it expects to become the largest driver of its revenue by the end of the decade. OpenAI expects advertising to generate about $2.4 billion in revenue this year and to quadruple... OpenAI’s advertising effort is so new that the company is still working out the kinks in it. That...

Meta's Alexandr Wang. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty.

Meta Tries to Light a Fire in AI Market

By Martin Peers · Apr 8, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Guess what: Meta Platforms is still in the AI model game. You might have forgotten that fact, given that it’s been a little while since we’ve seen much new on the AI front from the Facebook owner. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Threads on Wednesday to reveal the new model family, known as Muse, and its first member, Spark. Meta stock... Guess what: Meta Platforms is still in the AI model game. You might have forgotten that fact,...

Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh. Alexander Miridonov/AP.

Nebius in Talks to Buy Israeli AI Startup AI21 After Nvidia Deal Fizzles

By Valida Pau and Katie Roof · Apr 8, 2026 2:39pm PDT

Nebius, a cloud provider backed by Nvidia with a market cap of $32 billion, is in talks to buy Israeli-based AI startup AI21 Labs, according to people with knowledge of the deal. The potential deal would help Amsterdam-based Nebius expand AI services for its customers beyond its main business of renting out servers. AI21 develops large... Nebius, a cloud provider backed by Nvidia with a market cap of $32 billion, is in talks to...

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

The Information Finance

Nvidia Worth $22 Trillion? This Old-School Financial Model Says Yes.

By Ken Brown · Apr 8, 2026 9:07am PDT · 2 comments

Nvidia shares should be worth a lot more than they are now—400% more, to be exact. And most software stocks should be worth less—some a lot less—than they are now. You can find assessments like these all over social media, but in this case, they come from one of the most respected quantitative investing models in finance. UBS HOLT is that... Nvidia shares should be worth a lot more than they are now—400% more, to be exact. And most...

GitButler cofounders Scott Chacon, Anne Leuschner and Kiril Videlov. Photo courtesy of GitButler.

The Startup Building Code Management Software for ‘Tokenmaxxers’

By Julia Hornstein · Apr 8, 2026 7:00am PDT

GitButler cofounders Scott Chacon, Anne Leuschner and Kiril Videlov. Photo courtesy of GitButler.

The Startup Building Code Management Software for ‘Tokenmaxxers’

By Julia Hornstein · Apr 8, 2026 7:00am PDT

Earlier this week, my colleague Jyoti reported on the great lengths Meta Platforms engineers are going to show off their AI prowess. An employee-created leaderboard tracks who burns through the most AI tokens—part of a broader trend known as “tokenmaxxing.” The article has sparked a flurry of armchair analysis on how much this strategy could... Earlier this week, my colleague Jyoti reported on the great lengths Meta Platforms engineers are...

Art by Clark Miller; YouTube.

Polygon Labs in Talks to Raise Up to $100 Million for Payments Business

By Yueqi Yang · Apr 8, 2026 6:00am PDT

Polygon Labs, developer of the blockchain that underpins prediction market Polymarket and other crypto platforms, is in early talks with investors to raise as much as $100 million to build a new stablecoin payments business, according to people familiar with the talks. The funding discussions come amid a nasty downturn in crypto. The new venture... Polygon Labs, developer of the blockchain that underpins prediction market Polymarket and other...

Anthropic co-founder and president, Daniela Amodei. Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Anthropic’s Revenue Growth Suggests OpenAI Is Overvalued

By Martin Peers · Apr 7, 2026 5:00pm PDT

The sooner Anthropic and OpenAI go public, the better—at least then we’d have proper financial disclosure. Both companies’ habit of updating the public on their revenue growth by references to either monthly revenue or annualized revenue, which is (loosely speaking) the last month’s revenue multiplied by 12, is getting old. And it’s not exactly... The sooner Anthropic and OpenAI go public, the better—at least then we’d have proper financial...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Bloomberg/Getty Images.

How Anthropic Could Hit $100 Billion in Annualized Revenue This Year

By Sri Muppidi · Apr 7, 2026 4:33pm PDT · 2 comments

What could stop Anthropic now? The maker of the Claude chatbot said Monday it is generating more than $30 billion in annualized revenue, up from $19 billion about a month ago and more than triple its year-end level. At that pace, the company is on track to surpass its mid-December projection of $32 billion in annualized revenue by the end of... What could stop Anthropic now? The maker of the Claude chatbot said Monday it is generating more...

Art by Clark Miller.

Microsoft’s GitHub Sees Booming Traffic—and Outages—as AI Agents Flood Platform

By Aaron Holmes · Apr 7, 2026 10:30am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller.

Microsoft’s GitHub Sees Booming Traffic—and Outages—as AI Agents Flood Platform

By Aaron Holmes · Apr 7, 2026 10:30am PDT · 1 comment

Software developers are using AI agents to crank out more lines of code than is humanly possible, with companies like Meta hosting “tokenmaxxing” contests to see which coders can spin the AI meter the fastest.That trend is leading to a surge in traffic at Microsoft-owned GitHub, which hosts repositories where companies can upload and edit their... Software developers are using AI agents to crank out more lines of code than is humanly possible,...

Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic. Kimberly White/Common Sense Media/Getty Images.

Anthropic’s Compute Crunch Strikes Again

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 7, 2026 7:00am PDT

Anthropic said Monday afternoon it had topped $30 billion in annualized revenue, implying growth surged 58% since the end of February. It also suggests the maker of the Claude chatbot may have surpassed OpenAI, which was generating $25 billion in annualized revenue in February.Despite its success, Anthropic isn’t winning any fans in the... Anthropic said Monday afternoon it had topped $30 billion in annualized revenue, implying growth...

Lindsey Nicholson/Getty Images.

Amazon’s Tough Stance on Prices Prompts Brands to Pull Products

By Ann Gehan · Apr 7, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Selling on Amazon is getting tougher for some big brands. In recent months, Amazon has rebuffed requests from some of the company’s wholesale suppliers to increase what it pays for their inventory, forcing brands to swallow higher costs related to tariffs, and more recently, oil prices, according to people who work with consumer brands like... Selling on Amazon is getting tougher for some big brands. In recent months, Amazon has rebuffed...

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar and CEO Sam Altman. Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

OpenAI’s Never-Ending Soap Opera

By Martin Peers · Apr 6, 2026 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

What’s the bet that OpenAI’s senior management team undergoes a shake-up before the company goes public? On Sunday, The Information reported that finance chief Sarah Friar has concerns about OpenAI’s readiness to go public and its ability to support its AI server commitments. And on Monday, The New Yorker published a long profile of CEO Sam... What’s the bet that OpenAI’s senior management team undergoes a shake-up before the company goes...

A talk at TensorWave CEO Jeff Tatarchuk’s Beyond CUDA event last year. Screenshot via YouTube/TensorWave.

Can TensorWave Leapfrog Nvidia’s Big Moat?

By Anissa Gardizy · Apr 6, 2026 12:01pm PDT

A talk at TensorWave CEO Jeff Tatarchuk’s Beyond CUDA event last year. Screenshot via YouTube/TensorWave.

AI Infrastructure

Can TensorWave Leapfrog Nvidia’s Big Moat?

By Anissa Gardizy · Apr 6, 2026 12:01pm PDT

Hello! Anissa here. Is Nvidia’s CUDA Vulnerable?Jeff Tatarchuk likes to poke the bear. The bear, in this case, is Nvidia. Tatarchuk has every incentive to challenge the chip company’s dominance. He runs startup TensorWave, which rents out AI chips from Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices.Last year, during Nvidia’s GTC conference, Tatarchuk... Hello! Anissa here. Is Nvidia’s CUDA Vulnerable?Jeff Tatarchuk likes to poke the bear. The...

Honeywell and startup Odys are building the hybrid-electric Laila, which would bring down drones in combat. Photo: Courtesy Odys

The Electric: Honeywell Jumps Into the Race to Develop Electric Aircraft for the Pentagon

By Steve LeVine · Apr 6, 2026 9:00am PDT

Multiple electric aviation startups are developing aircraft for combat missions in a race for billions of dollars in orders they expect from the Pentagon and other military buyers amid a boom in defense spending. Multiple electric aviation startups are developing aircraft for combat missions in a race for...

Elon Musk and T-Mobile 's then-CEO Mike Sievert on stage during a joint event in 2022 announcing the Starlink partnership. Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images.

Why SpaceX Has an Uphill Battle Growing Starlink Mobile

By Theo Wayt · Apr 6, 2026 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

SpaceX executives say its Starlink Mobile direct-to-cell service offered through mobile carriers will eventually reach hundreds of millions of customers around the globe, which would help justify SpaceX’s valuation. But right now, the service’s revenue is tiny. T-Mobile, for instance, SpaceX’s only mobile partner in the U.S., is offering its... SpaceX executives say its Starlink Mobile direct-to-cell service offered through mobile carriers...

Art by Getty Images

Codex and Claude Code Can Work Together

By Rocket Drew · Apr 6, 2026 7:00am PDT

Forget all the chatter about which AI coding tool is winning the race. The companies behind the leading AI coding tools are learning the benefits of peaceful co-existence. On Thursday, for instance, Cursor announced a new version of its app designed for coding with AI agents from different coding providers simultaneously, including ... Forget all the chatter about which AI coding tool is winning the race. The companies behind the...

Art by Clark Miller.

Meta Employees Vie for AI ‘Token Legend’ Status

By Jyoti Mann · Apr 6, 2026 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

Meta Employees Vie for AI ‘Token Legend’ Status

By Jyoti Mann · Apr 6, 2026 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

Employees at Meta Platforms who want to show off their AI superuser chops are competing on an internal leaderboard for status as a “Session Immortal”—or, even better, “Token Legend.” The rankings, set up by a Meta employee on its intranet using company data, measure how many tokens—the units of data processed by AI... Employees at Meta Platforms who want to show off their AI superuser chops are competing on an...