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

Art by Mike Sullivan/ Midjourney

New AI Business Model: Charging Customers Only When the Tech Works

By Jon Victor · Sep 6, 2024 6:00am PDT

Last month, Zendesk, which makes customer support software aided by artificial intelligence, decided to sell it in a daring new way. Instead of charging businesses based on how often they use the software—essentially an AI chatbot—to try to resolve customer problems, Zendesk began charging them only when the chatbot completed the... Last month, Zendesk, which makes customer support software aided by artificial intelligence,...

Aparna Pappu, vice president and general manager of Google Workspace, left, and Naveen Rao, vice president of AI at Databricks. Photo by Erin Beach

AI Summit: Nvidia Rivals, Musk’s Supercomputer Claims and Hot AI Jobs

By The Information Staff · Sep 5, 2024 7:37pm PDT

Artificial intelligence has turned into a battle of giants—but there is still room for startups, from makers of graphics processing units to applications that promise to make healthcare more efficient. Those themes emerged from The Information’s AI Summit in San Francisco Thursday. Greylock Partners’ Reid Hoffman called Elon... Artificial intelligence has turned into a battle of giants—but there is still room for...

Photo by ViewPress via Getty.

Verizon’s Backflip

By Martin Peers · Sep 5, 2024 5:00pm PDT

It’s the investment bankers’ dream—a company so desperate for growth that it engages in years of dealmaking under one CEO, while his successor spends years undoing all that earlier work. We’re talking about Verizon, whose $9.6 billion purchase of Frontier today is the culmination of nearly a decade of back-and-forth M&A negotiation. This is... It’s the investment bankers’ dream—a company so desperate for growth that it engages in years of...

Reid Hoffman. Photo by Erin Beach

OpenAI Investor Hoffman Says Musk’s New AI Chip Cluster Is ‘Table Stakes’

By Erin Woo · Sep 5, 2024 4:02pm PDT · 1 comment

Reid Hoffman. Photo by Erin Beach

OpenAI Investor Hoffman Says Musk’s New AI Chip Cluster Is ‘Table Stakes’

By Erin Woo · Sep 5, 2024 4:02pm PDT · 1 comment

Elon Musk’s recent claim that his xAI startup had assembled a cluster of 100,000 Nvidia chips in four months represents “table stakes” for the kinds of artificial intelligence Musk is pursuing, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman said Thursday at The Information’s AI Summit. “I don't think it's necessarily... Elon Musk’s recent claim that his xAI startup had assembled a cluster of 100,000 Nvidia...

Paul Graham. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

The Cult of Founder Mode

By Kate Clark · Sep 5, 2024 3:00pm PDT

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I spent most of Labor Day weekend in bed recovering from a bout of Covid, because I was blissfully unaware of the newest venture capital debate brewing online.Rather than enjoy barbecues with their families, it seems like many venture capitalists and startup founders spent the weekend engaging in an... Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I spent most of Labor Day weekend in bed recovering from...

Joe Rogan. Photo by SYFY via Getty

Creator Economy

The Superstar Podcast Deals of 2024

By Rocket Drew · Sep 5, 2024 2:00pm PDT

Not too long ago, it didn’t seem plausible that chatting with a friend in front of a microphone could make for a lucrative career. I hosted a weekly radio show for about eight years, starting in 2010, when no one had heard of a podcast. During that time, the most common question I received was “That’s neat, how much does it cost you?” So I... Not too long ago, it didn’t seem plausible that chatting with a friend in front of a microphone...

Photo via Getty.

OpenAI Considers Higher Priced Subscriptions to its Chatbot AI; Preview of The Information’s AI Summit

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · Sep 5, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

How much would you be willing to pay for ChatGPT every month? $50? $75? How about $200 or $2,000?That’s the question facing OpenAI, whose executives we hear have discussed high-priced subscriptions for upcoming large language models, such as OpenAI’s reasoning-focused Strawberry and a new flagship LLM, dubbed Orion. (More on those models here... How much would you be willing to pay for ChatGPT every month? $50? $75? How about $200 or $2,000?...

A Huawei store in Chengdu, China. Photo via Shutterstock.

Apple’s China Rival Huawei Faces Production Snag With New Phone

By Qianer Liu · Sep 5, 2024 6:06am PDT · 1 comment

A Huawei store in Chengdu, China. Photo via Shutterstock.

Apple’s China Rival Huawei Faces Production Snag With New Phone

By Qianer Liu · Sep 5, 2024 6:06am PDT · 1 comment

Huawei Technologies, whose phones are a major competitor to Apple’s iPhones in China, has scheduled a big product announcement for next Tuesday, the day after Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone. That would be an ideal time for Huawei to unveil its much-anticipated next flagship phone, the Mate 70. But Huawei and the company that... Huawei Technologies, whose phones are a major competitor to Apple’s iPhones in China, has...

An Electric Era charging station at Seven Feathers Truck & Travel Center in Canyonville, Ore. Photo: Courtesy Electric Era.

The Electric: Battery Charging Executive Urges Biden to Go Easier on China

By Steve LeVine · Sep 5, 2024 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

Late this month, Quincy Lee plans to inaugurate a fast-charging station for electric vehicles outside a new Costco in Ridgefield, Wash. The station will have six charging ports, powered by Chinese-made batteries, allowing it to quickly charge from 50 to 100 EVs per day. Late this month, Quincy Lee plans to inaugurate a fast-charging station for electric vehicles...

Ilya Sutskever. Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty.

What SSI’s $5 Billion Valuation Really Means

By Martin Peers · Sep 4, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s the billion-dollar baby of artificial intelligence. Safe Superintelligence Inc., the AI startup launched by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, announced Wednesday it had raised a whopping $1 billion from big-name venture capital firms, including Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz. That’s a huge amount of money for a... It’s the billion-dollar baby of artificial intelligence. Safe Superintelligence Inc., the AI...

Creator Jack Settleman of SnapBack Sports. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty.

Creator Economy

A YouTuber Finds the Math on Shorts Doesn’t Add Up

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 4, 2024 2:35pm PDT

Almost a year ago, I wrote about sports creator Jack Settleman’s decision to abandon a YouTube account that had nearly 600,000 subscribers and start over on YouTube. His initial channel had become popular thanks to Shorts videos, but those viral views didn’t translate over to longer videos or help build a loyal audience, he told me. Almost a year ago, I wrote about sports creator Jack Settleman’s decision to abandon a YouTube...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and prompts from Microsoft's Copilot 365 demo videos. Photos via Getty/Microsoft

Microsoft Customers Pause on Office AI Assistant Due to Budgets, Bugs

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 4, 2024 9:39am PDT · 9 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and prompts from Microsoft's Copilot 365 demo videos. Photos via Getty/Microsoft

Microsoft Customers Pause on Office AI Assistant Due to Budgets, Bugs

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 4, 2024 9:39am PDT · 9 comments

Microsoft’s vision of using artificial intelligence to take some of the drudgery out of creating spreadsheets, documents and slide presentations is running into snags at businesses like Ascendion, a technology consulting firm. The firm has about 100 employees testing a Microsoft AI feature known as 365 Copilot that automates tasks in... Microsoft’s vision of using artificial intelligence to take some of the drudgery out of...

Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty.

Why Musk’s AI Rivals Are Alarmed by His New GPU Cluster

By Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Sep 4, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

The biggest artificial intelligence developers are abuzz over Elon Musk’s claim on Monday that he completed a cluster of 100,000 Nvidia H100 chips in four months, to be used to train the next models of his startup, xAI.If true, the cluster would be the most powerful cluster of graphics processing units in the world, but its rapid buildout would... The biggest artificial intelligence developers are abuzz over Elon Musk’s claim on Monday that he...

The People With Power at Design Software Firm Canva

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 4, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

As Canva moves toward a possible initial public offering, the graphic design software company has a big hole: Its chief financial officer resigned in February and hasn’t been replaced. What’s more, just three of its seven C-suite executives have worked at a public company. There’s more public company experience among people in... As Canva moves toward a possible initial public offering, the graphic design software company has...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Tech’s Sea of Red

By Martin Peers · Sep 3, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Just what we needed: a stock market chill to remind us that summer is over. Investors on Wall Street were dumping stocks left, right and center on Tuesday, after anemic manufacturing data reminded people of economic uncertainties they had put out of their minds. Tech stocks were a sea of red, from the smallest to the biggest companies. But... Just what we needed: a stock market chill to remind us that summer is over. Investors on Wall...

Photo via Getty

A Dogfight Over a Dog Food Startup

By Julia Hornstein and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 3, 2024 4:12pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Getty

A Dogfight Over a Dog Food Startup

By Julia Hornstein and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 3, 2024 4:12pm PDT · 1 comment

As funding for startups outside artificial intelligence has dried up, more founders have contemplated takeover offers. But such deals can sour if the founders agree to an all-stock deal—and the acquiring business doesn’t live up to its promises.That’s essentially the situation the shareholders of venture-backed Canadian startup Kabo allege they’... As funding for startups outside artificial intelligence has dried up, more founders have...

Sienna Mori and Dan McCormick. Photo courtesy of subjects

Creator Economy

Create Raises $5 Million Thanks to Creatine Craze

By Ann Gehan · Sep 3, 2024 2:19pm PDT

For years, creatine was best known as a supplement for hardcore gym enthusiasts looking to get a workout boost. More recently, popular podcasters and health and fitness influencers like Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman have been touting other purported health benefits of creatine, like better cognitive function and sleep.One supplement startup, ... For years, creatine was best known as a supplement for hardcore gym enthusiasts looking to get a...

Fidji Simo, Tobi Lütke and Mark Zuckerberg. Photos by Getty

Founder Mode Shouldn’t Be Just for Founders

By Fidji Simo · Sep 3, 2024 1:04pm PDT · 11 comments

Paul Graham’s essay on founder mode captured the imagination of Silicon Valley this weekend by clearly articulating the magic we witness in many founder-driven companies. As someone who spent a decade working under a generational founder at Meta Platforms and now sits on the board of two founder-led companies (Shopify and OpenAI), I... Paul Graham’s essay on founder mode captured the imagination of Silicon Valley this weekend...

ByteDance's Singapore offices. Photo via Shutterstock.

ByteDance Increases Share Price in Latest Employee Buyback

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 3, 2024 12:22pm PDT · 1 comment

ByteDance has increased its share price in its latest employee buyback, an increase that's in line with secondary market trades that have lifted its valuation close to $230 billion. The TikTok parent set the price for an upcoming employee share buyback at about $181 a share, while it will offer former employees about $154 a share, according... ByteDance has increased its share price in its latest employee buyback, an increase that's in...

Disney Leads TV Companies in Streaming Ad War

By Sahil Patel · Sep 3, 2024 9:21am PDT

Disney Leads TV Companies in Streaming Ad War

By Sahil Patel · Sep 3, 2024 9:21am PDT

The Redstone family’s recent decision to sell Paramount Global, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery’s loss of NBA broadcasting rights, reflect the perilous state of traditional TV companies, mostly due to the slow decline of the hugely lucrative cable TV machine. Of the traditional TV firms, Disney may be best positioned to survive the... The Redstone family’s recent decision to sell Paramount Global, as well as Warner Bros....