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

TikTok Braces for European Regulatory Rebuke

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 3, 2024 12:47pm PDT

If the U.S. forces TikTok to go dark in January—a scenario its lawyers are fighting in federal court—it will fall back on its hundreds of millions of users outside the U.S. who have helped make the short-video app a global phenomenon. But some of those other regions, such as Europe, are becoming more hostile to TikTok. While EU... If the U.S. forces TikTok to go dark in January—a scenario its lawyers are fighting in...

Photo via Getty

OpenAI Needs to Raise More Money Again Soon

By Kate Clark and Kalley Huang · Oct 3, 2024 7:00am PDT

OpenAI just raised one of the biggest private pools of capital in Silicon Valley history. Ironically, one of the biggest questions is how soon it will try to raise that kind of money again, thanks to its high cash burn.Its $6.6 billion financing capped a convoluted and sometimes chaotic process that spanned continents. Investors are valuing... OpenAI just raised one of the biggest private pools of capital in Silicon Valley history....

A Tesla Cybertruck, which uses its 4680 battery. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty

Tesla Plans 4 New Batteries In 2026, Including For a Robotaxi

By Wayne Ma and Steve LeVine · Oct 3, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Tesla has embarked on an ambitious effort to design four new versions of its in-house battery to power the Cybertruck, its forthcoming Robotaxi and other electric vehicles, according to people with direct knowledge of its plans. This is the most battery projects the company has worked on simultaneously. The projects come four years after CEO... Tesla has embarked on an ambitious effort to design four new versions of its in-house battery to...

Photo by Getty

The Cynic’s Guide to OpenAI’s Megaround

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo by Getty

The Cynic’s Guide to OpenAI’s Megaround

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Sam Altman should organize a celebration dinner for the men behind the largest venture capital funding round ever. I’d love to overhear SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son give advice to Thrive’s Joshua Kushner on how to avoid giving too much money to charismatic tech founders. Imagine seeing Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella fight over... Sam Altman should organize a celebration dinner for the men behind the largest venture capital...

Image by Getty

Creator Economy

Google Could Borrow Meta’s Strategy to Make Smart Glasses Cool

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 2, 2024 3:20pm PDT

There’s been a lot of chatter in the tech industry lately about smart glasses. Meta Platforms announced a string of updates to its Ray-Ban smart glasses at the company’s Connect conference in September. And this week, I reported Google had approached partner Samsung about developing AI-powered smart glasses. (You can read the story here.)If... There’s been a lot of chatter in the tech industry lately about smart glasses. Meta Platforms...

Image via YouTube.

Flexport Cuts Jobs, Plans to Unload Excess Warehouse Space

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Oct 2, 2024 2:24pm PDT · 3 comments

Logistics company Flexport is making fresh job cuts and will sublease excess warehouse space to overhaul the money-losing fulfillment business it acquired from Shopify last year, according to a memo to staff on Wednesday. Flexport, which was valued at $8 billion in a 2022 funding round, has seen revenue drop since then amid a broader collapse in... Logistics company Flexport is making fresh job cuts and will sublease excess warehouse space to...

OpenAI Plugs the Holes In its $1 Billion App-Developer Business

OpenAI Plugs the Holes In its $1 Billion App-Developer Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 2, 2024 7:00am PDT

Before we get to OpenAI’s new products for customers of its artificial intelligence models, we wanted to flag the plans of Barret Zoph, one of three key technical leaders who unexpectedly resigned last week.Zoph previously led the OpenAI team responsible for preparing AI models for release, known as post-training, and has told people that he... Before we get to OpenAI’s new products for customers of its artificial intelligence models, we...

Sam Altman (left), Sarah Friar and Jack Dorsey. Photos by Getty Images

How OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar Is Keeping Startup Flush With Cash

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Sam Altman (left), Sarah Friar and Jack Dorsey. Photos by Getty Images

How OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar Is Keeping Startup Flush With Cash

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

At Square, Sarah Friar was the grownup who helped bring the fintech’s otherworldly CEO, Jack Dorsey, down to earth for investors. Now she has a shot at doing something similar for Sam Altman’s OpenAI—if she can last long term at the chaotic artificial intelligence startup. Since arriving at OpenAI as chief financial officer in... At Square, Sarah Friar was the grownup who helped bring the fintech’s otherworldly CEO,...

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, in September. Photo via Getty.

Snapchat’s Safety Struggle

By Erin Woo · Oct 1, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Snap likes to cast its Snapchat app as “an antidote to social media.” Unlike its rival social media apps, Snapchat was “designed to be safe” for kids, the company claims. But designing something to be safe and actually making it safe aren’t the same things.How Snap has fallen short on this front became clear from an unredacted version of a... Snap likes to cast its Snapchat app as “an antidote to social media.” Unlike its rival social...

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

SoftBank Finally Gets Its Piece of OpenAI

By Kate Clark · Oct 1, 2024 3:00pm PDT

The internet didn’t hold back in mocking OpenAI and SoftBank in response to my scoop on SoftBank’s Vision Fund investing $500 million at a $150 billion pre-investment valuation in the ChatGPT developer. The commentators quickly interpreted the Japanese telecom giant’s participation in the financing as a sign that the artificial intelligence... The internet didn’t hold back in mocking OpenAI and SoftBank in response to my scoop on SoftBank’...

Photo via YouTube

Creator Economy

YouTube’s Creator Awards Hit by ‘Shrinkflation’

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 1, 2024 2:00pm PDT

About 12 years ago, YouTube started sending out physical awards when creators hit certain subscriber milestones. Those silver and gold plaques, known as Play Buttons, have become coveted status symbols for YouTubers and a welcome recognition of their hard work. But as YouTube leaders bring a new focus on financial discipline, the... About 12 years ago, YouTube started sending out physical awards when creators hit certain...

Art by Clark Miller

Google Searches for Its Footing in Smart Glasses as Meta Gains Ground

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 1, 2024 9:15am PDT · 4 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Google Searches for Its Footing in Smart Glasses as Meta Gains Ground

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 1, 2024 9:15am PDT · 4 comments

Earlier this year, Google staffers began pitching their counterparts at Samsung—a longtime Google hardware partner—on an idea for a new collaboration between the companies: high-tech glasses. At the time, another big tech company, Meta Platforms, was starting to see success from its own Ray-Ban smart glasses, which allowed people to... Earlier this year, Google staffers began pitching their counterparts at Samsung—a longtime...

Sam Altman at Italian Tech Week last Wednesday in Turin, Italy. Photo by Stefano Guidi/Getty.

The OpenAI Researchers Who Matter Now

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

Before we get to today’s newsletter, just a reminder that OpenAI will be holding its Dev Day event in San Francisco today. (This is just one of three developer-focused events the ChatGPT maker is hosting over the next two months, compared to the one-and-done approach from last year.)For those hoping for GPT-5, don’t hold your breath. Romain Huet... Before we get to today’s newsletter, just a reminder that OpenAI will be holding its Dev Day...

Lightspeed Venture Partners co-founder and partner, Ravi Mhatre. Photo via Flickr/TechCrunch.

Lightspeed, After Backing xAI and Anthropic, Aims to Raise $7 Billion in New Funds

By Laura Mandaro · Oct 1, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Lightspeed Venture Partners is raising money for three new funds that could total around $7 billion, according to a person who has discussed the fundraising with the firm’s partners. It’s the latest firm seeking to raise billions after a period when institutional investors pulled back from venture capital. Close to 40% of the new... Lightspeed Venture Partners is raising money for three new funds that could total around $7...

Sam Altman speaking in Turin, Italy last Wednesday. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI’s Endless Fundraising

By Martin Peers · Sep 30, 2024 5:00pm PDT

If you’re like me, you’re getting political fundraising text messages roughly every 15 minutes these days. But political candidates aren’t the only people raising money aggressively right now. There are also AI startup executives, most obviously the folks at OpenAI. Today we scooped the news that SoftBank is putting $500 million into OpenAI as... If you’re like me, you’re getting political fundraising text messages roughly every 15 minutes...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott. Photo by AFP via Getty.

Why Microsoft Will Likely Keep Its Iron Grip on OpenAI’s Future Profits; Newsom’s Strange AI Veto

By Aaron Holmes, Rocket Drew and Josh Koehn · Sep 30, 2024 7:20am PDT

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott. Photo by AFP via Getty.

Why Microsoft Will Likely Keep Its Iron Grip on OpenAI’s Future Profits; Newsom’s Strange AI Veto

By Aaron Holmes, Rocket Drew and Josh Koehn · Sep 30, 2024 7:20am PDT

As OpenAI nears a much-needed capital raise, some investors in the company have privately voiced hope that its largest shareholder and benefactor, Microsoft, will relinquish its rights to a large share of OpenAI’s future profits—an arrangement that effectively lowers the value of shares held by newer investors.I wouldn’t bet on it.Microsoft has... As OpenAI nears a much-needed capital raise, some investors in the company have privately voiced...

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank. Photo by Getty

SoftBank to Invest $500 Million in OpenAI

By Kate Clark and Cory Weinberg · Sep 30, 2024 6:30am PDT

SoftBank’s Vision Fund has agreed to invest $500 million in OpenAI’s latest funding round, which values the developer of ChatGPT at $150 billion before the investment, a person familiar with the deal said. The deal would represent SoftBank’s first investment in the Sam Altman-led company. SoftBank would join lead investor... SoftBank’s Vision Fund has agreed to invest $500 million in OpenAI’s latest funding...

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty.

Why Waymo Could Speed Past Uber

By Anita Ramaswamy · Sep 30, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

The race to get self-driving taxis on the road is accelerating. Elon Musk’s Tesla plans to reveal its long-awaited prototype of one such vehicle on Oct. 10, while Alphabet-owned Waymo announced last month that its autonomous vehicles soon would be available for Uber customers in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta. These moves, along with... The race to get self-driving taxis on the road is accelerating. Elon Musk’s Tesla plans to...

GM plans to produce the consumer version of its electric Silverado here in 2026. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty

Exclusive From The Electric: Inside GM’s Do-Over

By Steve LeVine · Sep 30, 2024 4:30am PDT · 2 comments

Last November, Ed Duby took over battery production at General Motors. He found an effort in crisis: The company was on track to sell fewer than a quarter of the 400,000 electric vehicles it had predicted for 2023, and the numbers were unlikely to improve anytime soon. The problem wasn’t consumer demand. Rather, GM had fumbled production of... Last November, Ed Duby took over battery production at General Motors. He found an effort in...

Art by Clark Miller

OpenAI’s Weird Week

By Nick Wingfield · Sep 28, 2024 7:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

OpenAI’s Weird Week

By Nick Wingfield · Sep 28, 2024 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:•The Big Read: How YouTuber Mark Rober got inside the heads of Silicon Valley families. • The Top 5: The best trails to use e-bikes to get out of your cars and smell Mother Nature. • Plus: A new album from electronic artist Jamie xx; a Batman villain spreads his wings; and the origins of reality... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:•The Big Read: How YouTuber Mark Rober got inside the...