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

WTF: Women in Tech, Media and Finance

Google Exec Says Data Gives It an Edge in AI Search

By Erin Woo · Oct 8, 2024 12:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Google’s head of search, Liz Reid, said her company’s data and experience building search products will give it an advantage in developing artificial intelligence-powered search, as Google faces competition from newer search-related entrants such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Perplexity. “We have really great data beyond the... Google’s head of search, Liz Reid, said her company’s data and experience building...

Photo via Getty.

The Startups Helping Businesses Decode AI Decisions

By Rocket Drew · Oct 8, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

First off, check out my colleagues’ story this morning about how OpenAI is growing impatient with Microsoft’s ability to provide it with enough servers to run its technology, prompting OpenAI to take greater control of its own data center, chip and power planning.Onto today’s issue…Venture capitalists have recently funded half a dozen or so... First off, check out my colleagues’ story this morning about how OpenAI is growing impatient with...

Art by Clark Miller

OpenAI Leaders Say Microsoft Isn’t Moving Fast Enough to Supply Servers

By Anissa Gardizy, Aaron Holmes and Amir Efrati · Oct 8, 2024 6:30am PDT · 4 comments

OpenAI and Microsoft soared to new heights by developing and sharing artificial intelligence, specialized servers and product revenue with each other. Microsoft’s cash has paid for nearly all of that work. After marching in lockstep, their relationship is changing. Last week, after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Chief Financial Officer Sarah... OpenAI and Microsoft soared to new heights by developing and sharing artificial intelligence,...

Dave Clark. Photo via Flickr/U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security.

Former Amazon Consumer Chief Raises $100 Million for New Logistics Startup

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Oct 8, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Dave Clark. Photo via Flickr/U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security.

Former Amazon Consumer Chief Raises $100 Million for New Logistics Startup

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Oct 8, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Dave Clark, a former senior Amazon executive who oversaw the buildup of the commerce giant’s sprawling delivery operations, is launching a logistics software startup with $100 million in funding from investment firm Oak HC/FT. Clark’s next move had been a question mark for the logistics and retail tech world since he was ousted as... Dave Clark, a former senior Amazon executive who oversaw the buildup of the commerce...

Beth Galetti, senior vice president, people experience and tech at Amazon. Photo: Erin Beach for The Information.

WTF: Women in Tech, Media and Finance

Amazon Develops AI ‘Coach’ For Its Employees: Senior HR Exec

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 7, 2024 10:23pm PDT

Amazon’s top human resources executive defended the company’s full return-to-office mandate announced last month, noting that young employees have been asking for in-office work to gain mentorship from their colleagues. The move to five days a week in-office is a return to Amazon’s pre-pandemic approach, where workers showed up... Amazon’s top human resources executive defended the company’s full return-to-office...

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Google's Epic Loss

By Martin Peers · Oct 7, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Talk about an epic decision. Epic Games scored a huge victory in court on Monday, when the judge overseeing Epic’s antitrust case against Google essentially shattered the company’s Android app store monopoly. Among other things, the judge ruled that for the next three years, the tech giant can’t require developers to use only Google’s app... Talk about an epic decision. Epic Games scored a huge victory in court on Monday, when the judge...

OpenAI's canvas toolbar. Art by The Information.

OpenAI’s Attempt to Catch Up With Anthropic Could Cannibalize Its Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 7, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI closed out its big week of fundraising news with a rather understated product announcement: the release of Canvas, a new ChatGPT interface that makes it easier for users to draft documents and code.That might not sound like a big deal. But it has bigger implications for the company’s position in the AI race and its relationship with its... OpenAI closed out its big week of fundraising news with a rather understated product...

Art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI Funding Fuels Wave of Big AI Deals

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 7, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI Funding Fuels Wave of Big AI Deals

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 7, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

It’s back to the races for artificial intelligence startups that require billions of dollars—and the investors that want to own a piece of their growth. OpenAI’s $6.6 billion capital raise and startups’ high computing costs have sparked new funding discussions between AI startups—including xAI, Anthropic, Perplexity... It’s back to the races for artificial intelligence startups that require billions of...

GM's secretive prototyping center, in Warren, Mich. Photo: Courtesy GM

Exclusive From The Electric: Inside GM's Secretive Battery Lab

By Steve LeVine · Oct 7, 2024 4:30am PDT

In 2020, General Motors CEO Mary Barra told investors, analysts and journalists how the company planned to transform itself into an electric vehicle powerhouse. The key, the executives said in a two-hour presentation, was Ultium, a proprietary new battery they said would make GM’s EVs profitable almost from the get-go. In 2020, General Motors CEO Mary Barra told investors, analysts and journalists how the company...

Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman. Photo by Getty

Cerebras CEO’s Past Felony Conviction Hangs Over IPO Listing

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 5, 2024 7:43am PDT · 4 comments

Cerebras Systems, a $4 billion-valuation semiconductor designer taking on Nvidia, stands out as one of the few tech startups aiming to list its shares publicly this year, trying to capitalize on investor interest in hardware that powers artificial intelligence. What may dampen some of the fervor is another unusual detail: Its co-founder and CEO,... Cerebras Systems, a $4 billion-valuation semiconductor designer taking on Nvidia, stands out as...

Tech’s Performative Grudge Matches

Tech’s Performative Grudge Matches

By Abram Brown · Oct 5, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Why women in tech are sounding an alarm• Power and Influence: The tangled web behind the VC who wants to be mayor• Plus: Terrors from a storm; Netflix escapism; and a podcast with Tom Hanks and chimpanzee butts. Silicon Valley grudgery really can devolve into such absurd... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Why women in tech are sounding an alarm•...

Mark Farrell. Art by Clark Miller; Farrell image via Getty

San Francisco’s Would-Be Mayor Has a Tangled History in Venture

By Josh Koehn · Oct 5, 2024 5:00am PDT · 4 comments

Mark Farrell. Art by Clark Miller; Farrell image via Getty

Power and Influence

San Francisco’s Would-Be Mayor Has a Tangled History in Venture

By Josh Koehn · Oct 5, 2024 5:00am PDT · 4 comments

In 2015, many San Franciscans were furious with startups like Airbnb as they depleted the city’s housing supply and pushed rent in the city to some of the highest levels in the country. Mark Farrell—a venture capitalist then serving as a city supervisor and now a leading candidate in San Francisco’s current mayoral... In 2015, many San Franciscans were furious with startups like Airbnb as they depleted the...

Photo via Shutterstock

Amazon Learns Tech Isn’t Everything in Retail Stores

By Theo Wayt · Oct 4, 2024 3:30pm PDT

It looks like Amazon has finally realized most people go to grocery and convenience stores to browse and shop—not to be wowed by technology. Case in point: Amazon is closing more of its futuristic cashierless convenience shops and launching mini Whole Foods stores that are comparatively low tech. When Amazon opened its first Go store to the... It looks like Amazon has finally realized most people go to grocery and convenience stores to...

Art by Clark Miller

Why Women in Tech Are Sounding an Alarm

By Julia Black · Oct 4, 2024 9:00am PDT · 24 comments

There wasn’t any one thing that led to the slow death of Girls in Tech, a standard-bearer nonprofit that provided Silicon Valley women with the kind of mentorship and training opportunities that men took for granted. First, the pandemic struck, and donors shifted their attention to health and science causes. Then the Black Lives Matter... There wasn’t any one thing that led to the slow death of Girls in Tech, a standard-bearer...

Cohere's Aidan Gomez, Safe Superintelligence's Ilya Sutskever and World Labs' Fei-Fei Li. Photos via Flickr and Getty.

Pro Weekly: Third-Quarter AI Funding Falls, but There’s a Catch

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 4, 2024 8:00am PDT

Fourth-quarter artificial intelligence funding is off to a big start with OpenAI locking in $6.6 billion in fresh capital this week. It’s the second-largest funding round we’ve ever recorded in our Generative AI Database, behind Microsoft’s $10 billion OpenAI investment in January 2023.But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The third quarter just... Fourth-quarter artificial intelligence funding is off to a big start with OpenAI locking in $6.6...

Chart by Shane Burke

Google Antitrust Case Comes Too Late for Publishers

By Sahil Patel · Oct 4, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Chart by Shane Burke

Google Antitrust Case Comes Too Late for Publishers

By Sahil Patel · Oct 4, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Publishers are happy that the Department of Justice sued Google over its control of online display advertising. But some would have preferred to have seen the case brought five or six years ago—when the gap between what publishers and the tech giants generate from online ads was not as wide as it is today. Publishing executives say they... Publishers are happy that the Department of Justice sued Google over its control of online...

Scene from WTF 2023. Photo by Erin Beach.

WTF: Women in Tech, Media and Finance

Announcing the WTF Summit 2024 Breakout Sessions

By The Information Staff · Oct 3, 2024 6:47pm PDT

We’re excited to see everyone on October 7th and 8th at The Information's WTF Summit. Our breakout sessions are an important part of the Summit. At this year’s event, we’ll have two sets of 35-minute breakout sessions on Tuesday, October 8th. Here’s a preview of this year’s topics. Connected Experiences: What... We’re excited to see everyone on October 7th and 8th at The Information's WTF Summit....

Sam Altman. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Why OpenAI Shouldn’t Buy Back Employee Shares

By Martin Peers · Oct 3, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

On the public markets, the idea of companies that are burning cash also spending money on stock buybacks is a giant no-no. Yet for some reason, private tech investors are willing to give startups a pass for doing the same thing. Exhibit A is OpenAI, which we reported wants to use some of the $6.6 billion in cash it raised in its recent... On the public markets, the idea of companies that are burning cash also spending money on stock...

Photo via Getty.

Will OpenAI’s Investor Terms Hurt Anthropic—or Help It?

By Kate Clark · Oct 3, 2024 3:22pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s reasonable to ask that your VC backers not fund your greatest competitors. In the past, avoiding such rival investments was the norm! Still, OpenAI’s private request of its backers, that they avoid investing in other artificial intelligence model makers, stands out. Increasingly investors have been funding rival AI businesses as a way to... It’s reasonable to ask that your VC backers not fund your greatest competitors. In the past,...

ShopMy cofounders Harry Rein, Tiffany Lopinsky, and Chris Tinsley.

How a Social Shopping Startup Is Gaining Ground

By Ann Gehan · Oct 3, 2024 2:49pm PDT

ShopMy cofounders Harry Rein, Tiffany Lopinsky, and Chris Tinsley.

Creator Economy

How a Social Shopping Startup Is Gaining Ground

By Ann Gehan · Oct 3, 2024 2:49pm PDT

When ShopMy first launched in 2020, it looked a lot like the popular creator startup LTK. Both help creators to set up personalized links to shopping pages they could share on social media sites, giving them a way to earn commissions from brands by promoting products. ShopMy, whose backers include Inspired Capital and AlleyCorp,... When ShopMy first launched in 2020, it looked a lot like the popular creator startup LTK. Both...