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

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Pro Weekly: AI Venture Funding Extends Hot Streak

By Akash Pasricha · Apr 11, 2025 8:00am PDT

The stock market had a rough start to the year. Artificial intelligence venture funding, however, is still on an upward trajectory. Startups in our Generative AI Database raised more than $18.8 billion in the first quarter, more than threefold with the same period last year. We logged 79 funding rounds across the 441 companies in our database.To... The stock market had a rough start to the year. Artificial intelligence venture funding, however,...

Art by Clark Miller

Patrick Collison Dreams of an Abundance-Verse

By Julia Black · Apr 11, 2025 7:05am PDT

Nearly every summer in recent years, Patrick Collison, Stripe’s 36-year-old Irish billionaire co-founder, has hosted a multiday summit on the West Coast with a bold underlying intention: unlock a more abundant future. The very first such conclave happened in 2018 when Collison and several other co-founders, including his brother John and GitHub... Nearly every summer in recent years, Patrick Collison, Stripe’s 36-year-old Irish billionaire...

Art by Clark Miller

What Happens When Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Science Combine

By The Information Staff · Apr 11, 2025 7:00am PDT

Scientists and starlets can make strange bedfellows. But at this year’s Breakthrough Prize ceremony in Santa Monica, Calif., hundreds of scientists, tech leaders and Hollywood stars gathered for a night of celebrating breakthroughs in subjects such as gene editing, mathematics and physics. A crowd including Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez and... Scientists and starlets can make strange bedfellows. But at this year’s Breakthrough Prize...

Photos via Getty/Shutterstock

ByteDance Is Developing AI Smart Glasses

By Juro Osawa · Apr 11, 2025 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Photos via Getty/Shutterstock

ByteDance Is Developing AI Smart Glasses

By Juro Osawa · Apr 11, 2025 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is planning to sell its own version of artificial intelligence–powered smart glasses, according to two people with direct knowledge of the effort. It’s the latest sign that tech giants globally see gadgets as the next new market for AI services. Meta Platforms has had success with its Ray-Ban smart glasses,... ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is planning to sell its own version of artificial...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today. Photo via Getty

Europe’s Tax Threat Looms Over Google and Meta

By Martin Peers · Apr 10, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

A global trade war could get very ugly for big tech—and not just for importers of physical products, like Apple. A Financial Times report on Thursday quoted the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, as suggesting that Europe could retaliate against U.S. tariffs by imposing a levy on digital ad revenues generated by companies like... A global trade war could get very ugly for big tech—and not just for importers of physical...

Hemant Taneja. Photo by Getty

What Worries General Catalyst’s Hemant Taneja

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 10, 2025 3:26pm PDT · 1 comment

Venture capitalists typically aren’t macroeconomic or geopolitical experts, despite what you may read on X or hear on podcasts. But they do need to have a sufficient worldview to understand where markets are growing, where to put investment dollars and how to raise money.In that way, it’s become clear that General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja was... Venture capitalists typically aren’t macroeconomic or geopolitical experts, despite what you may...

Art by Mike Sullivan/Midjourney

Creator Economy

How AI Could Eat Creators’ Affiliate Revenue

By Ann Gehan · Apr 10, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Creators are staring down what they say is a growing threat: artificial intelligence-powered searches cutting into their lucrative product recommendations. More people are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to search the web for information and shopping inspiration, and Google has started adding more AI-powered features to its... Creators are staring down what they say is a growing threat: artificial intelligence-powered...

As Advertisers Rethink Spending, Meta and Google Look Better Positioned

As Advertisers Rethink Spending, Meta and Google Look Better Positioned

By Catherine Perloff · Apr 10, 2025 1:05pm PDT · 1 comment

As Advertisers Rethink Spending, Meta and Google Look Better Positioned

As Advertisers Rethink Spending, Meta and Google Look Better Positioned

By Catherine Perloff · Apr 10, 2025 1:05pm PDT · 1 comment

Advertisers are rethinking their spending plans, a sign that economic uncertainty sparked by President Donald Trump’s tariff program is having an impact on business investment. But the impact won’t be felt evenly. Big tech companies that sell advertising—Google, Meta Platforms and Amazon—are likely to hold up better than other... Advertisers are rethinking their spending plans, a sign that economic uncertainty sparked by...

Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google speaks onstage during Google Cloud Next “25: AI Exclusive at the Sphere” on April 08, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Image via Getty.

How Companies Are Approaching AI’s Cost-Benefit Analysis

By Erin Woo and Jon Victor · Apr 10, 2025 10:00am PDT

Google Cloud pulled out all the stops at its annual developer conference in Las Vegas this week to demonstrate that customers are getting good results from artificial intelligence services, speeding up production and offering new services to customers. But as tariffs roil markets and dampen the economic outlook, how much businesses spend on AI... Google Cloud pulled out all the stops at its annual developer conference in Las Vegas this week...

ByteDance's Singapore office. Photo via Getty

ByteDance’s 2024 Revenue Shows Importance of TikTok

By Jing Yang and Qianer Liu · Apr 10, 2025 7:37am PDT

ByteDance’s revenue from international operations, which are primarily TikTok, rose 63% to $39 billion in 2024, said a person with knowledge of the company’s financials. The international revenue accounted for a quarter of ByteDance’s total last year, the highest it has ever been, as growth in the company’s Chinese operations slowed. The results... ByteDance’s revenue from international operations, which are primarily TikTok, rose 63% to $39...

Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

AI Startups’ Revenue Disclosures Get Worse

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 10, 2025 7:00am PDT

I don’t envy AI investors right now. The price of AI startup shares (unlike the value of my stock portfolio) seem to be only going up, which means it’s riskier to make new bets. And the way startups are disclosing financial metrics to investors seems to be getting more muddied. Take annual recurring revenue, which typically multiplies the... I don’t envy AI investors right now. The price of AI startup shares (unlike the value of my stock...

John Giannandrea, left, and Craig Federighi. Photos via Getty

How Apple Fumbled Siri’s AI Makeover

By Wayne Ma · Apr 10, 2025 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

John Giannandrea, left, and Craig Federighi. Photos via Getty

How Apple Fumbled Siri’s AI Makeover

By Wayne Ma · Apr 10, 2025 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

Last June, at Apple’s annual developers conference, the company offered a dazzling demonstration of how artificial intelligence could supercharge Siri, the iPhone’s virtual assistant. But behind the scenes and in the months that followed, the Siri team couldn’t make up its mind about the basic technology needed to make it all work. One option... Last June, at Apple’s annual developers conference, the company offered a dazzling demonstration...

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. Photo via YouTube

Google Cloud’s Thomas Kurian Keeps Focus on AI

By Martin Peers · Apr 9, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Shoutout to Thomas Kurian, chief of Google Cloud, who delivered a roughly 90-minute-long keynote address at the cloud unit’s developer conference in Las Vegas today. Even as chaos reigned in the markets and talk of a looming recession circulated, Kurian stood onstage wearing a suit, calmly talking up Google Cloud’s new artificial intelligence... Shoutout to Thomas Kurian, chief of Google Cloud, who delivered a roughly 90-minute-long keynote...

An event hosted by the Creators Guild of America. Photo via CGA.

Creator Economy

Guild Unveils Creator ‘Rider’

By Kaya Yurieff and Erin Woo · Apr 9, 2025 2:15pm PDT

A nonprofit is trying to bring more legal rigor to the creator economy. Creators Guild of America is releasing a legal document for creators that outlines basic protections for their deals with brands, social platforms and agencies. It aims to provide a standard for the industry, covering topics including timely payments and how a creator's... A nonprofit is trying to bring more legal rigor to the creator economy. Creators Guild of...

Partner Content

Recap: What’s Working and What’s Not With AI Agents

By The Information Partnerships · Apr 9, 2025 12:35pm PDT

Although many businesses are stillexperimentingwith LLMs, some enterprise leaders are already eyeing the next evolution of AI: autonomous agents that act on their own rather than merely generating outputs on command. But which early use cases are the most promising? What benchmarks can organizations use to measure the success (or failure) of... Although many businesses are stillexperimentingwith LLMs, some enterprise leaders are already...

Outtake CEO Alex Dhillon. Photo courtesy of Outtake.

The Year-Old Security Startup Keeping OpenAI’s Name Off Phishing Lures

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 9, 2025 7:00am PDT

Outtake CEO Alex Dhillon. Photo courtesy of Outtake.

The Year-Old Security Startup Keeping OpenAI’s Name Off Phishing Lures

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 9, 2025 7:00am PDT

Large language models have a lot of great applications but a few bad ones as well: for instance, they help criminals launch targeted cyberattacks faster than they previously did. In the year after ChatGPT was released, the number of sites found to be “phishing,” or trying to convince victims to disclose their ID and payment credentials,... Large language models have a lot of great applications but a few bad ones as well: for instance,...

Photos by Getty

Market Sell-Off Makes Amazon a Bargain Worthy of Walmart

By Anita Ramaswamy · Apr 9, 2025 6:00am PDT

Big stock market sell-offs present surprising opportunities. Here’s one: Amazon, the killer of bricks-and-mortar retail, is now much cheaper than Walmart, the king of bricks-and-mortar retail. This swap has been happening in slow motion for the past few months. President Donald Trump’s liberation day put the shift into high gear. Trump’s tariffs... Big stock market sell-offs present surprising opportunities. Here’s one: Amazon, the killer of...

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Photo via Getty

What Amazon’s Not-So-Secret Agent Could Do to Shopping

By Martin Peers · Apr 8, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Forget tariffs and the stock market roller coaster just for a moment. As much as Trump’s tariffs pose a worry to tech (as we discussed here and here), a much bigger existential threat is lurking in the background for many app-based companies. And that is artificial intelligence agents, software that enables a chatbot to order a pizza, book a... Forget tariffs and the stock market roller coaster just for a moment. As much as Trump’s tariffs...

Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures. Photo via Getty

How Charles Hudson’s Precursor Is Navigating the IPO Drought

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Apr 8, 2025 4:46pm PDT · 1 comment

Charles Hudson’s Precursor Ventures, a nine-year-old firm specializing in writing the first investment checks to nascent startups, just raised $66 million for its fifth fund. That’s 20% less than Hudson raised for his firm’s fourth fund, in 2021, and shows the rising challenge of VC fundraising these days.Since venture funds can’t rely on... Charles Hudson’s Precursor Ventures, a nine-year-old firm specializing in writing the first...

Photo via Getty

Instagram’s Mosseri Positions App for TikTok Turmoil

By Kaya Yurieff and Kalley Huang · Apr 8, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

Instagram’s Mosseri Positions App for TikTok Turmoil

By Kaya Yurieff and Kalley Huang · Apr 8, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Meta Platforms has put the turmoil around TikTok to good use. Amid a barrage of headlines about the White House’s efforts to broker a deal for the app—and China’s move to quash one—the Instagram owner has been reiterating to creators that it’s a smart alternative. Last week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri told his staff that if TikTok were... Meta Platforms has put the turmoil around TikTok to good use. Amid a barrage of headlines about...