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

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

Photo via Getty.

Why Coding Assistants Are Improving; OpenAI’s ‘Russian Doll’ Data Center

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 18, 2024 7:20am PDT

While everyone waits for OpenAI’s next flagship large language model, developers have been eking out more gains from today’s LLMs with some engineering elbow grease, as we covered here. That’s especially true for artificial intelligence-powered coding assistants, which are getting a lot better. Ofir Press, a postdoctoral researcher at ... While everyone waits for OpenAI’s next flagship large language model, developers have been eking...

Photo by Chesnot via Getty.

Reality Comes to Meta’s Reality Labs

By Wayne Ma and Kalley Huang · Jul 18, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has canceled the blank check he once reserved for his augmented reality and virtual reality teams. As Meta ramps up its spending on artificial intelligence, company executives have started turning a more skeptical eye on its Reality Labs division, home of AR, VR and Zuckerberg’s former pet project, the... Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has canceled the blank check he once reserved for his...

Photo: Marc Piasecki/Getty

The Electric: Musk’s Bet on Trump Follows a Pattern of Tycoons Diving Into Politics

By Steve LeVine · Jul 18, 2024 4:30am PDT · 4 comments

In 1996, a half-dozen Russian tycoons known as the oligarchs put their fortunes and media companies behind then-President Boris Yeltsin’s faltering reelection effort, and helped turn around his campaign: Yeltsin handily beat the Communist Party candidate, and went on to reward the oligarchs with prime pieces of the Russian economy. In 1996, a half-dozen Russian tycoons known as the oligarchs put their fortunes and media...

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty.

Biden Chip Worries Send Stocks Plunging

By Martin Peers · Jul 17, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty.

Biden Chip Worries Send Stocks Plunging

By Martin Peers · Jul 17, 2024 5:00pm PDT

No one can accuse President Joe Biden of sucking up to the tech industry as he tries to win reelection. Tech stocks slumped across the board on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration is considering imposing “the most severe trade restrictions available” on Netherlands-based ASML and Japan’s Tokyo Electron in a new... No one can accuse President Joe Biden of sucking up to the tech industry as he tries to win...

"Binging With Babish" creator Andrew Rea. Photo by Jim Spellman/Getty Images.

Creator Economy

Where a Popular YouTube Cooking Channel Goes Next

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 17, 2024 2:07pm PDT

Andrew Rea was working as a visual effects artist in 2016 when he decided to film himself cooking a turkey burger depicted in a scene on the sitcom “Parks & Recreation,” which he was watching in the background. That spawned a video series on YouTube called “Binging with Babish,” where he recreated dishes from TV shows and movies. His... Andrew Rea was working as a visual effects artist in 2016 when he decided to film himself cooking...

Subscriber Survey

Biden Leads Trump 59%-27% in Survey of The Information Readers

By Scott Thurm · Jul 17, 2024 10:29am PDT · 23 comments

Prominent venture capitalists are lining up behind Donald Trump’s bid to recapture the White House, but readers of The Information remain solidly behind President Joe Biden. Readers favored Biden by a more than 2-to-1 margin in a survey conducted Tuesday and early Wednesday. Nearly 59% of 2,487 respondents said they plan to vote to reelect... Prominent venture capitalists are lining up behind Donald Trump’s bid to recapture the...

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty.

A Reality Check on AI With Chevron’s CIO

By Anissa Gardizy · Jul 17, 2024 7:00am PDT

A few days ago I grabbed a cup of coffee in San Francisco with Bill Braun, chief information officer of oil giant Chevron, to talk about his company’s spending on new artificial intelligence and Nvidia’s forthcoming AI chips. I came away believing that the conversations happening about AI inside the C-suites of the largest companies are very... A few days ago I grabbed a cup of coffee in San Francisco with Bill Braun, chief information...

Google, Microsoft Help Chinese Firms Skirt Ban on Nvidia Chips

By Juro Osawa and Aaron Holmes · Jul 17, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Google, Microsoft Help Chinese Firms Skirt Ban on Nvidia Chips

By Juro Osawa and Aaron Holmes · Jul 17, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

U.S. export controls forbid Chinese firms from buying Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips. But companies in China can still gain access to some of those chips by renting Nvidia-powered servers at data centers outside China from Google, Microsoft and other global firms—underlining a gap in U.S. export rules. Both Google... U.S. export controls forbid Chinese firms from buying Nvidia’s advanced artificial...

Former president Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention yesterday. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

VCs Can’t Be Sure What Trump Will Bring

By Martin Peers · Jul 16, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Be careful what you wish for. Many of Silicon Valley’s biggest-name venture capitalists are donating money to Donald Trump this election cycle, including, as The Information scooped today, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Venture capitalists aren’t alone—Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump on Saturday night and is donating $45 million a month to a... Be careful what you wish for. Many of Silicon Valley’s biggest-name venture capitalists are...

Former president Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention Monday. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

A Tipping Point for Tech’s Trump Support

By Kate Clark, Natasha Mascarenhas and Cory Weinberg · Jul 16, 2024 3:37pm PDT · 1 comment

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), former US President Donald Trump, and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Republican vice-presidential nominee, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday. Photo by Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty.

Creator Economy

The 18-Year-Old High Schooler Behind the RNC’s Creator Strategy

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 16, 2024 2:00pm PDT

This U.S. election cycle is really shaping up to be one where creators take center stage. More than 100 social media influencers, who post about everything from conservative politics to fitness and gaming, have descended on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, the first time a major political convention is giving creators... This U.S. election cycle is really shaping up to be one where creators take center stage. More...

Photo via Adobe Stock.

The Problem with Meta’s Llama 3 Launch; JD Vance Likes Open-Source

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 16, 2024 7:00am PDT

Photo via Adobe Stock.

The Problem with Meta’s Llama 3 Launch; JD Vance Likes Open-Source

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 16, 2024 7:00am PDT

While sports fans gear up for the Summer Olympics later this month, artificial intelligence enthusiasts are eagerly anticipating another major event: the July 23 release of Meta Platforms’ flagship Llama 3 large language model, which the company offers for free.Meta already released smaller versions of Llama 3, which AI app developers have raved... While sports fans gear up for the Summer Olympics later this month, artificial intelligence...

Art by Clark Miller

A Space Startup’s Moon Mining Plans Get a Boost With NASA Grant

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 16, 2024 7:00am PDT

A startup that aims to harvest a valuable gas from the moon’s surface and bring it back to Earth by the end of the decade has scored a NASA grant to push its plan forward. The startup, Seattle-based Interlune, said it will use the $348,000 NASA grant to test a critical part of its technology that it will ultimately use to prepare lunar... A startup that aims to harvest a valuable gas from the moon’s surface and bring it back to...

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz. Photos via Getty Images.

Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz Say They Plan to Donate to Trump PAC

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Jul 16, 2024 6:28am PDT · 49 comments

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who run one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firms, have told the firm’s employees in recent days they plan to make large donations to political action committees supporting the election of Donald Trump, people familiar with the matter said. The planned donations by Andreessen and... Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who run one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture...

Chart by Shane Burke.

For LendingClub and SoFi, a Rate Cut Rally Is Coming

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jul 16, 2024 6:00am PDT

Last week’s upbeat inflation report raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in the fall, which will be good news for pretty much every business. But companies in the business of lending money—in particular digital lending firms such as LendingClub and SoFi—may be the stocks to get the fastest... Last week’s upbeat inflation report raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will start...

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport at Fortune's 2022 Brainstorm Tech conference. Photograph by Michael Faas/Fortune via Flickr.

Wiz’s Possible M&A Trap

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 15, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport at Fortune's 2022 Brainstorm Tech conference. Photograph by Michael Faas/Fortune via Flickr.

Wiz’s Possible M&A Trap

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 15, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Everything seemed to be coming up Wiz over the past few years. The Israeli startup raised at increasingly high valuations from what seemed like every brand-name venture capital firm on the planet. It boasted in a press release that it was the fastest-growing startup ever. And it sat at the intersection of almost every mega-valuable tech trend:... Everything seemed to be coming up Wiz over the past few years. The Israeli startup raised at...

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport. Photo By Harry Murphy/Getty Images

The Biggest Winners From Wiz’s Potential $23 Billion Sale to Google

By Kate Clark, Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Jul 15, 2024 2:18pm PDT · 3 comments

Google’s proposed $23 billion acquisition of cloud security startup Wiz would help it compete with Microsoft, the top seller of security software. If the deal manages to avoid antitrust challenges and other hang-ups in the ongoing negotiations—and those issues are still a big if—it would also create a windfall for the... Google’s proposed $23 billion acquisition of cloud security startup Wiz would help it...

Sam Altman. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty.

Why Smaller Could Be Better

By Kalley Huang · Jul 15, 2024 7:00am PDT

While some developers are racing towards superintelligent AI technology, others are focused on building cheaper, more practical models. Over the past six months, several big tech companies including Google and Microsoft have released small language models, in a bid to stake their ground in a burgeoning area of artificial intelligence... While some developers are racing towards superintelligent AI technology, others are focused on...

Photo: AP

The Electric: After Killing His Cheap EV, Musk May Also Ditch the Battery That Made It Special

By Steve LeVine · Jul 15, 2024 4:30am PDT

In 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the idea of a new battery that he said would change everything about electric vehicles. He called the battery unpoetically the 4680—a reference to its metric system dimensions—and said it would allow Tesla to finally produce a car almost anyone could afford. In 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the idea of a new battery that he said would change...

Drew Baglino (left) and Elon Musk at a Tesla event in 2020. Art by Clark Miller. Screenshot via YouTube

Musk Sets Tesla Battery Deadline After Setbacks

By Steve LeVine, Wayne Ma and Becky Peterson · Jul 15, 2024 4:20am PDT · 2 comments

Drew Baglino (left) and Elon Musk at a Tesla event in 2020. Art by Clark Miller. Screenshot via YouTube

Musk Sets Tesla Battery Deadline After Setbacks

By Steve LeVine, Wayne Ma and Becky Peterson · Jul 15, 2024 4:20am PDT · 2 comments

In 2020, in front of a parking lot of raucous fans and investors honking their Teslas, Elon Musk laid out an intricate plan to make a $25,000 electric vehicle for the common person. The key: a transformative new battery boasting a slew of innovations, which he said could be ready in time for the vehicle’s release in 2023. Tesla blew that... In 2020, in front of a parking lot of raucous fans and investors honking their Teslas, Elon Musk...