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

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

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Recent Editions

Wall Street traders last week. Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images

Shopify, Unity Get Slammed by Anxious Market

By Martin Peers · Feb 11, 2026 5:00pm PST

Talk about unforgiving! The great enterprise stock sell-off of 2026 recommenced on Wednesday, and it dragged down a couple of companies—Unity Software and Shopify—after they each reported decent December-quarter earnings. Shares of Shopify, most egregiously, fell as much as 12% after the e-commerce software platform said its first-quarter... Talk about unforgiving! The great enterprise stock sell-off of 2026 recommenced on Wednesday, and...

Musk Restructures xAI Team Amid Senior Departures, SpaceX Merger

By Theo Wayt · Feb 11, 2026 12:01pm PST

Elon Musk has overhauled xAI’s leadership structure following its merger with SpaceX and as he pressures the AI firm to accelerate progress on Grok AI models, The Information’s latest org chart for the combined company shows. The changes coincide with an exodus of senior leaders. Just half of xAI’s 12 founding staffers, including Musk,... Elon Musk has overhauled xAI’s leadership structure following its merger with SpaceX and as he...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Information Finance

How Chinese Fintech Giant Ant Uses AI to Help Banks Hedge Currency Risks

By Jing Yang · Feb 11, 2026 8:00am PST

Will AI make investment bankers and traders irrelevant? That's one of the most talked-about questions in finance these days.In reality, banks are already feeling the impact of AI on their behind-the-scenes plumbing, where payments, cash management, treasury and foreign exchange operations are embracing AI models to cut costs in these notoriously... Will AI make investment bankers and traders irrelevant? That's one of the most talked-about...

Art by Clark Miller.

How OpenAI Uses ChatGPT to Catch ‘Leakers’

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 11, 2026 7:00am PST

Art by Clark Miller.

How OpenAI Uses ChatGPT to Catch ‘Leakers’

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 11, 2026 7:00am PST

Here at The Information, we’re always trying to break through the hype to understand how folks are actually using AI in the real world. And recently, I came across a new application of AI that I can’t say I had ever heard of before: using ChatGPT to catch so-called leakers.When a news story about OpenAI’s internal activities is published,... Here at The Information, we’re always trying to break through the hype to understand how folks...

Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow. Photo by Victor J. Blue/ Getty Images

What Investors Are Missing About ServiceNow

By Anita Ramaswamy · Feb 11, 2026 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Software stocks have started to recover after last week’s disastrous sell-off, but hardly enough to reverse a rout that has plagued the sector since fears that AI would render its products irrelevant took root. Several big-name software stocks, including ServiceNow, Adobe and Workday, are now trading at their lowest valuations in a decade. That... Software stocks have started to recover after last week’s disastrous sell-off, but hardly enough...

Elon Musk. Photo by Brendan Smialowsk/Getty Images

The Risk of the Muskiverse's Steady Turnover

By Theo Wayt · Feb 10, 2026 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Working at an Elon Musk company is rarely a stable gig. Musk is known to be an extremely demanding boss, and when he’s focused on a problem, heads will usually roll, either because he fires people or makes their lives so miserable they quit. That seems to have been the case again this week, with major executives at both xAI and Tesla heading for... Working at an Elon Musk company is rarely a stable gig. Musk is known to be an extremely...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft. Photo by Getty Images

A SpaceX IPO Would Be a Tailwind for SPVs

By Katie Roof · Feb 10, 2026 4:06pm PST · 2 comments

Maybe the “dumb money” isn’t so dumb after all. Over the last two years, Silicon Valley has been flooded with special purpose vehicles that promise individual investors a way to own shares in OpenAI, Anthropic and other buzzy startups. These often seemed like a sure way for individuals to lose money, thanks to exorbitant fees and the funds’... Maybe the “dumb money” isn’t so dumb after all. Over the last two years, Silicon Valley has...

Entire founder Thomas Dohmke. Credit: Mustafa Yalcin/Getty Images

GitHub’s Ex-CEO Bets On a Future in Which Humans No Longer Look at Computer Code

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 10, 2026 10:41am PST

Entire founder Thomas Dohmke. Credit: Mustafa Yalcin/Getty Images

GitHub’s Ex-CEO Bets On a Future in Which Humans No Longer Look at Computer Code

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 10, 2026 10:41am PST

Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, an AI agent that has taken the developer world by storm, recently made a stunning statement: he doesn’t even look at much of the AI-generated code he uses to make the agent. That could soon become the norm for a majority of people developing applications, said former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. This... Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, an AI agent that has taken the developer world by storm,...

Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/ Getty Images.

ChatGPT Shopping Could Get Complicated Fast

By Ann Gehan · Feb 10, 2026 10:04am PST

OpenAI has touted shopping inside ChatGPT as a major business opportunity as it tries to raise tens of billions in fresh cash. Meanwhile, the company is still nailing down some online commerce basics. That includes figuring out the best way to navigate state sales taxes—people working on commerce inside OpenAI still haven’t decided how it... OpenAI has touted shopping inside ChatGPT as a major business opportunity as it tries to raise...

Art by Clark Miller.

How OpenClaw Learns New Things

By Rocket Drew · Feb 10, 2026 7:00am PST · 2 comments

The sizable gap between how AIs and humans learn new things has inspired researchers to rethink the math behind today’s AI models. But developers have found a more immediate and practical workaround to get AI to continually learn: “skills.” A skill is a text prompt containing instructions for how an agent should perform a task. For... The sizable gap between how AIs and humans learn new things has inspired researchers to rethink...

Art by Clark Miller.

Crypto Is Getting Bashed in Markets and Washington

By Yueqi Yang · Feb 10, 2026 6:00am PST · 1 comment

The crypto industry is facing twin crises—in the markets and in Washington—that are threatening to derail its dream of mainstream acceptance. With the worst crypto sell-off since the collapse of FTX in the background, the industry has run into strong opposition to a wide-ranging bill it is trying to push through Congress. To break... The crypto industry is facing twin crises—in the markets and in Washington—that are...

Aneel Bhusri, CEO of Workday. Photo by Noah Graham/Getty Images.

Workday’s CEO Shuffle Is a Sign of Things to Come

By Martin Peers · Feb 9, 2026 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Aneel Bhusri, CEO of Workday. Photo by Noah Graham/Getty Images.

Workday’s CEO Shuffle Is a Sign of Things to Come

By Martin Peers · Feb 9, 2026 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Last week’s sell-off in software stocks is having an impact. Enterprise software firm Workday revealed Monday it had replaced its CEO, Carl Eschenbach, with co-founder and former CEO Aneel Bhusri, who is returning “to lead the company’s next chapter.” Bhusri, to be clear, has led the company for most of its chapters, having been either co-CEO or... Last week’s sell-off in software stocks is having an impact. Enterprise software firm Workday...

Photo by Matthias Balk/Getty Images.

Amazon Discusses AI Content Marketplace With Publishers

By Catherine Perloff and Erin Woo · Feb 9, 2026 3:34pm PST · 3 comments

Amazon has indicated to publishing industry executives that it is planning to launch a marketplace where publishers can sell their content to firms offering AI products, according to two people who spoke with Amazon about the project. Those discussions come as publishers and AI companies are battling to set terms over how AI firms can access... Amazon has indicated to publishing industry executives that it is planning to launch a...

MrBeast. Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

MrBeast’s Beast Industries to Buy Gen Z–Focused Banking App

By Valida Pau · Feb 9, 2026 9:05am PST

Beast Industries, the entertainment conglomerate founded by Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, has agreed to buy Step Mobile, a teen-focused banking app, the companies plan to announce Monday. The acquisition will expand the YouTube star’s reach beyond media, restaurants and packaged food into financial services. Founded in 2018, Step Mobile runs an app... Beast Industries, the entertainment conglomerate founded by Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, has agreed...

Anthropic's Data Center Ambition—and the Ex-Google Execs Who Could Make It Happen

AI Infrastructure

Anthropic's Data Center Ambition—and the Ex-Google Execs Who Could Make It Happen

By Anissa Gardizy · Feb 9, 2026 8:50am PST

Anthropic’s leaders have been loud about how its AI will reshape businesses but much less boisterous about how it plans to power that usage. Now the company’s data center ambitions are coming into focus. Anthropic is quietly assembling a veteran team, including two former Google executives, and has discussed securing at least 10 gigawatts... Anthropic’s leaders have been loud about how its AI will reshape businesses but much less...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Voice Assistants Are Dumb Compared to Text Chatbots

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 9, 2026 7:00am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Voice Assistants Are Dumb Compared to Text Chatbots

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 9, 2026 7:00am PST

For years, investors and founders have told me that AI which talks and listens the way humans do is on the cusp of a breakout moment. We’re still not there.Audio models are still lagging behind their text-based brethren in terms of intelligence. If you ask an audio model like the ChatGPT voice assistant a tough math question, for instance, it’s... For years, investors and founders have told me that AI which talks and listens the way humans do...

Elon Musk. Photo by Krisztian Bocsi/ Getty Images

Apollo Nears $3 Billion Chip-Funding Deal Tied to XAI

By Miles Kruppa · Feb 9, 2026 6:00am PST

Apollo Global Management, one of Wall Street’s biggest private credit firms, is nearing a deal to lend about $3.4 billion to an investment vehicle that will purchase Nvidia chips and lease them to Elon Musk’s xAI, which just merged with SpaceX, said a person with knowledge of the deal. The deal would be Apollo’s second big investment in a... Apollo Global Management, one of Wall Street’s biggest private credit firms, is nearing a deal to...

Construction has started at Lithium Americas' Thacker Pass lithium project. Photo: Courtesy Lithium Americas

The Electric: Lithium Makes a Comeback as Trump Moves to Challenge China

By Steve LeVine · Feb 9, 2026 4:30am PST

Mining lithium in the West has been a terrible business recently. From a peak of about $80 a kilo in late 2022, the price of the metal plummeted as low as $8 last year, causing big losses for investors and forcing mines to close in the U.S., Australia and elsewhere. Mining lithium in the West has been a terrible business recently. From a peak of about $80 a kilo...

The Amazon Alexa+ Super Bowl commercial starring Chris Hemsworth. Screenshot via YouTube/Amazon Alexa.

What to Expect from Spotify, Lyft and Pinterest Earnings This Week

By Martin Peers · Feb 8, 2026 3:00pm PST

After the crush of tech news last week, including a big AI-fueled stock sell-off, things might calm down a bit in the next few days. With any luck, we’ll have time to debate which of the tech companies’ Super Bowl ads running Sunday night were the best and which were the worst. My vote for best is the Amazon Alexa spot, by the way, although the... After the crush of tech news last week, including a big AI-fueled stock sell-off, things might...

How Capex Ramp Up Will Squeeze Google, Amazon, Meta

By Martin Peers · Feb 7, 2026 10:00am PST · 3 comments

Sunday Insights

How Capex Ramp Up Will Squeeze Google, Amazon, Meta

By Martin Peers · Feb 7, 2026 10:00am PST · 3 comments

Big tech’s dramatic ramp-up in projected capital expenditures this year will all but wipe out free cash flow for Amazon, Google and Meta Platforms. That will force some of those companies to make some difficult choices, such as whether to end stock buybacks or borrow more money. The good news is that the big tech companies have the capacity to... Big tech’s dramatic ramp-up in projected capital expenditures this year will all but wipe out...