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

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. 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

Andi Gutmans, vice president and general manager, Google Data Cloud. Photo courtesy of Google

Google Says Its AI Can Do the Work of Forward Deployed Engineers

By Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 18, 2026 2:19pm PDT · 1 comment

Following the playbook Palantir pioneered, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and Amazon are investing billions of dollars to hire so-called forward deployed engineers to get newfangled AI to work in enterprises. Then there’s Google, which says AI can automate some of what these FDEs do. While Google Cloud recently said it plans to hire... Following the playbook Palantir pioneered, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and Amazon are investing...

Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty.

Anthropic Prepares Supervoting Power for Founders as it Readies for Mega-IPO

By Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · Aug 18, 2026 1:29pm PDT

Anthropic has been preparing to give CEO Dario Amodei and other co-founders a class of stock with extra voting power to help insulate them from outside shareholder pressure, two people familiar with the matter said. It would be the first time Anthropic’s leaders have extra voting power, which has become common practice for tech founders. It is... Anthropic has been preparing to give CEO Dario Amodei and other co-founders a class of stock with...

How to Prepare for Trademark Filing Using Google Gemini

Partner Content

How to Prepare for Trademark Filing Using Google Gemini

By The Information Partnerships · Aug 18, 2026 12:59pm PDT

Starting a new business requires founders to make important decisions and tackle complex processes in areas where they typically lack expertise, such as human resources and accounting. One of the most important early steps is filing for a trademark to protect your brand name, logo, and other identifying assets from unauthorized use. Trademark... Starting a new business requires founders to make important decisions and tackle complex...

Art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI Gains Against Anthropic Among OpenRouter Customers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 18, 2026 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI Gains Against Anthropic Among OpenRouter Customers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 18, 2026 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI has found a new place to fight Anthropic for developer wallets: OpenRouter, a service AI app developers use to access models from different providers from one application programming interface. (In case you’ve been under a rock, Stripe is about to buy OpenRouter for a pretty penny.)A big chunk of OpenRouter’s business recently boiled down... OpenAI has found a new place to fight Anthropic for developer wallets: OpenRouter, a service AI...

Photo via Getty Images

The Waymo Wipeout of Uber Shares Has Gone Too Far

By Anita Ramaswamy · Aug 18, 2026 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Uber stock has dropped 8% this year over concerns that the ride-hailing company faces stiff competition from robotaxi operators, most notably Waymo. Sellers are overreacting. Uber can still sustain rapid growth and expand its profit margins while staying competitive in the autonomous-driving race in the years to come. Plus, its current... Uber stock has dropped 8% this year over concerns that the ride-hailing company faces stiff...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Getty Images.

Nvidia Juggles Mixed Messages on Chip Longevity

By Phoebe Liu · Aug 17, 2026 5:51pm PDT · 1 comment

Nvidia wants customers to buy as many of its next-generation AI chips as possible. It also wants its customers to know their old AI chips will remain valuable for a long time. Can it manage both?Nvidia has been able to grow so quickly because it has convinced big customers to shift almost completely to its latest and greatest hardware nearly... Nvidia wants customers to buy as many of its next-generation AI chips as possible. It also wants...

A Tesla Cybercab on a street in San Francisco, in June. Photo via Getty Images.

Tesla Readies August Launch of Cybercab, Its Robotaxi Without a Steering Wheel

By Grace Kay · Aug 17, 2026 12:26pm PDT

Tesla has told staff it is gearing up for a public launch of the Cybercab, its first vehicle designed without a steering wheel or brake pedal, intended for its autonomous ride-hailing service, Robotaxi. The company aims to start with a public rollout in Austin, Texas. It plans to launch the Cybercab to the public in the city as soon as this... Tesla has told staff it is gearing up for a public launch of the Cybercab, its first vehicle...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Fearing an AI Chip Glut, Data Center Developers Are Choosin’ Texas

By Ann Davis Vaughan · Aug 17, 2026 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art via Mike Sullivan

AI Infrastructure

Fearing an AI Chip Glut, Data Center Developers Are Choosin’ Texas

By Ann Davis Vaughan · Aug 17, 2026 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

Just like in the hit country crossover song of the year, “Choosin’ Texas,” digital cowboys are throwing themselves into the arms of the Lone Star State.One of the reasons AI giants are rushing to the business- and energy-friendly state is a looming concern about a future glut of specialized server chips that don’t have a place to plug in,... Just like in the hit country crossover song of the year, “Choosin’ Texas,” digital cowboys are...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Will Anthropic and OpenAI Stop Selling Their Best AI to Businesses?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 17, 2026 7:01am PDT

Anthropic and OpenAI’s move to develop AI applications and features tailored to specific industries continues to worry their customers, some of which must now compete head-on with their main AI suppliers. Design app Canva is the latest to find itself in this predicament, as we reported earlier this month.Through it all, though, most people... Anthropic and OpenAI’s move to develop AI applications and features tailored to specific...

Arm CFO Jason Child. Courtesy of Arm.

Q&A

Arm CFO Eyes Deals as Chip Building Brings New Challenges

By Valida Pau · Aug 17, 2026 6:00am PDT

Arm shares have more than doubled this year as the U.K. company has benefited from demand for the central processing units it designs and a new AI chip it is selling. And that soaring share price has given the SoftBank-controlled company, now worth $300 billion, more firepower to do acquisitions. In the past, Arm has mostly made small purchases,... Arm shares have more than doubled this year as the U.K. company has benefited from demand for the...

Photo by Getty

Workday's Potential Buyout Feeds Hope Saas Sell-off Is Over

By Laura Mandaro · Aug 16, 2026 3:00pm PDT

In software land, it’s getting harder and harder to call out a singular vibe shift when the vibes keep shifting every 24 hours. On Thursday, when news broke that Silver Lake was in talks to acquire Workday, the human resource software company’s stock shot up 19%. Such a deal would be a big vote of confidence in a prominent... In software land, it’s getting harder and harder to call out a singular vibe shift when the vibes...

A kamikaze drone being tested in Ukraine. Photo: Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/Future Publishing/Getty

A Slew of Deals Appears to End the Malaise for Battery Startups

By Steve LeVine · Aug 16, 2026 2:00pm PDT

A kamikaze drone being tested in Ukraine. Photo: Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/Future Publishing/Getty

A Slew of Deals Appears to End the Malaise for Battery Startups

By Steve LeVine · Aug 16, 2026 2:00pm PDT

In 2022, next-generation battery startup SES AI debuted on the New York Stock Exchange and announced the big news that its lithium-metal battery was undergoing validation tests with three major automakers—General Motors, Honda and Hyundai, all three of which were investors in the Massachusetts startup. In 2022, next-generation battery startup SES AI debuted on the New York Stock Exchange and...

Getty Images.

Sunday Insights

Nebius and CoreWeave Tout Short-Term Cloud Deals, While AWS Goes Long

By Catherine Perloff · Aug 16, 2026 8:00am PDT

This week, Nebius and CoreWeave both pitched investors on a new business opportunity—shorter-term contracts. The neoclouds said these deals would allow them to cash in on surging prices for AI compute capacity amid a crunch for GPUs, and investors seemed to agree, with shares in both companies moving sharply higher. While the neoclouds are... This week, Nebius and CoreWeave both pitched investors on a new business...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images

Nvidia in Talks to Invest $3 Billion in SB Energy as Part of OpenAI Data Center Deal

By Valida Pau, Ann Davis Vaughan and Phoebe Liu · Aug 15, 2026 12:12pm PDT

Nvidia is in talks to invest as much as $3 billion in SB Energy, the Softbank Group-backed developer of a massive planned Ohio data center project for OpenAI, according to people familiar with the discussions. The investment is being discussed as part of Nvidia’s negotiations with OpenAI and SB Energy over the chip giant providing around $100... Nvidia is in talks to invest as much as $3 billion in SB Energy, the Softbank Group-backed...

Art: Clark Miller (photos: courtesy of "Disruption")

An Almighty Algorithm’s Grand Debut

By Abram Brown · Aug 15, 2026 8:01am PDT

• The Big Read: Inside the ascendance of Anthropic’s “first lady”• Elon Musk’s flying roadster is finally ready • Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani,” “Little Blue Dot” and “Furious”What’s the best measure of AI’s great proliferation?Most obviously, we can sum up the enormous amounts of money... • The Big Read: Inside the ascendance of Anthropic’s “first lady”• Elon Musk’s flying roadster is...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Nvidia Close to Deal to Guarantee About $100 Billion in Credit for OpenAI

By Phoebe Liu, Valida Pau and Ann Davis Vaughan · Aug 14, 2026 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Nvidia Close to Deal to Guarantee About $100 Billion in Credit for OpenAI

By Phoebe Liu, Valida Pau and Ann Davis Vaughan · Aug 14, 2026 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment

Nvidia is close to an agreement to provide around $100 billion in credit support for OpenAI to lease a proposed AI data center campus in Ohio that is among the largest projects of its kind, according to four people with knowledge of the talks. The support would help with financing for the first phase of the project buildout, which will last... Nvidia is close to an agreement to provide around $100 billion in credit support for OpenAI to...

Art by Clark Miller; Tesla, Getty Images.

Tesla Nears Unveiling of Radical New ‘Flying’ Roadster

By Grace Kay · Aug 14, 2026 6:06am PDT · 2 comments

Between Elon Musk’s promises of supernimble robots and interstellar colonization, the billionaire has spent plenty of time over the last decade hyping up another ambitious effort: the next version of the Roadster, the sporty electric vehicle that first put Tesla on the map. At first, he said he wanted the vehicle to be the fastest production car... Between Elon Musk’s promises of supernimble robots and interstellar colonization, the billionaire...

Shiv Verma, Robinhood CFO and president of Robinhood Ventures

Y Combinator Startups Get a New Backer: Robinhood

By Julia Hornstein · Aug 13, 2026 6:00pm PDT

For years, venture investors have scouted potential investments in the graduating classes of Y Combinator in the hope of backing the next Stripe, Airbnb and DoorDash. Robinhood is now pitching this playbook to individual investors, with a new fund to invest in early-stage startups that participate in the accelerator. On Thursday, Robinhood’... For years, venture investors have scouted potential investments in the graduating classes of Y...

OpenAI’s departing and incoming chief revenue officers Denise Dresser and Dali Rajic. Getty Images.

OpenAI’s Latest Hire Burnishes Its Cybersecurity Credentials

By Aaron Holmes and Laura Bratton · Aug 13, 2026 5:15pm PDT

It may be the dog days of summer, but the biggest AI labs are breaking up the monotony with a few executive changes. The latest is OpenAI Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser. The ChatGPT maker said Thursday she would leave the firm after just eight months on the job. In her place, OpenAI has hired Dali Rajic, formerly president and chief... It may be the dog days of summer, but the biggest AI labs are breaking up the monotony with a few...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Anthropic’s ‘First Lady’ Took a Winding Road to the Top

By Cory Weinberg, Jemima McEvoy, Jessica E. Lessin and Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 13, 2026 2:09pm PDT · 4 comments

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Anthropic’s ‘First Lady’ Took a Winding Road to the Top

By Cory Weinberg, Jemima McEvoy, Jessica E. Lessin and Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 13, 2026 2:09pm PDT · 4 comments

Eric Schmidt had plenty of reasons to toast the success of Dario Amodei and Anthropic at a private event the former Google CEO hosted recently. But Schmidt, who is also an early Anthropic investor, made a point to celebrate “Cami and Dario,” the couple seated together at the event. The Cami in question was Amodei’s wife, Camilla Clark, who has... Eric Schmidt had plenty of reasons to toast the success of Dario Amodei and Anthropic at a...