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 via Clark Miller

The Startup Fueling OpenAI and Anthropic’s Coding Race

By Amir Efrati · Oct 23, 2024 11:55am PDT · 2 comments

Last fall, several Google artificial intelligence leaders met with Jonathan Siddharth, CEO of a startup that sells access to part-time software engineers on demand. The Google managers asked Siddharth whether the startup, Turing, could use its army of human programmers to teach Google’s AI to be better at completing coding tasks, according... Last fall, several Google artificial intelligence leaders met with Jonathan Siddharth, CEO of a...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Temu 2.0 Attacks Amazon’s Achilles’ Heel

By Jing Yang and Theo Wayt · Oct 23, 2024 7:26am PDT

Temu is making swift progress in winning over popular Amazon merchants to sell on its bargain site, thanks to a simple pitch: It’s much cheaper for merchants to sell on Temu than on Amazon. Temu has already added more than 60% of major China-based Amazon sellers of products like bedding sets and vacuum cleaners and is enlisting U.S.-based... Temu is making swift progress in winning over popular Amazon merchants to sell on its bargain...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo via Getty.

Anthropic Pulls Ahead in the AI Agent Race

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 23, 2024 7:00am PDT

In the tight race between well-funded developers of conversational AI, Anthropic has suddenly made some real gains.The startup on Tuesday announced new software that completes tasks for people, such as building a website or editing a spreadsheet. The feature, called “computer use,” means that Anthropic’s Claude model can actually view users’... In the tight race between well-funded developers of conversational AI, Anthropic has suddenly...

Apple Sharply Scales Back Production of Vision Pro

By Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · Oct 23, 2024 6:00am PDT

Apple Sharply Scales Back Production of Vision Pro

By Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · Oct 23, 2024 6:00am PDT

Apple has sharply scaled back production of its Vision Pro mixed reality headset since the early summer and could stop making the existing version of the device entirely by year end, according to multiple people directly involved in building components for the device. The move suggests that Apple has enough inventory built up to meet demand for... Apple has sharply scaled back production of its Vision Pro mixed reality headset since the early...

MrBeast. Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

‘Let It Slowly Die.’ MrBeast’s Irate Texts Over Burger Deal Revealed in Court Docs

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 22, 2024 5:15pm PDT

MrBeast so wishes he had not entered that burger deal! That’s one of the takeaways from a series of angry and regretful messages sent by YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson to a business confidant months before he sued the restaurant operator. The exchanges, part of a deluge of new court filings and exhibits, show Donaldson and colleagues discussing a... MrBeast so wishes he had not entered that burger deal! That’s one of the takeaways from a series...

Screenshot from Temu.

Amazon, Temu and $20 Couches

By Martin Peers · Oct 22, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Memo to the Kamala Harris campaign: Have you checked out Temu? The presidential candidate faces a bunch of voters unhappy with how prices for consumer goods have skyrocketed under President Joe Biden. But she could push back on those complaints by pointing people to the website of Temu, the Chinese-owned bargain-basement shopping service that... Memo to the Kamala Harris campaign: Have you checked out Temu? The presidential candidate faces a...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Collage via Shane Burke

OpenAI, in Duel With Anthropic, Doubles Down on AI That Writes Software

By Erin Woo, Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Oct 22, 2024 3:59pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become a multibillion-dollar business in large part because programmers use it to write and check their code, fix bugs and translate code into different programming languages. Now, facing competition from rival artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, OpenAI is putting more effort into improving the tools it offers... OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become a multibillion-dollar business in large part because...

Stripe CEO and co-founder, Patrick Collison. Photo via Getty.

Stripe’s Crypto Deal Provides Momentary Relief to Investors

By Kate Clark · Oct 22, 2024 3:15pm PDT

Stripe CEO and co-founder, Patrick Collison. Photo via Getty.

Stripe’s Crypto Deal Provides Momentary Relief to Investors

By Kate Clark · Oct 22, 2024 3:15pm PDT

Stripe’s announcement that it was buying cryptocurrency payments startup Bridge delivered a dose of optimism to venture capitalists this week. The deal is poised to become the largest-ever crypto acquisition and punctuated a particularly dreary market for mergers and public offerings.The purchase values the two-and-a-half-year-old company at... Stripe’s announcement that it was buying cryptocurrency payments startup Bridge delivered a dose...

Photo via Getty

Shein’s Rocky Financial Performance Complicates IPO Plans

By Jing Yang and Cory Weinberg · Oct 22, 2024 10:24am PDT

Shein’s march toward an initial public offering has gotten tangled in a web of regulatory scrutiny on three continents this year. Now, as its executives try to restart IPO talks, executives at the fast fashion retailer face another problem: having to explain a first-half slump in the business. The company’s revenue growth decelerated... Shein’s march toward an initial public offering has gotten tangled in a web of regulatory...

Photo via Getty

How AI Dealmakers Are Sidestepping Regulators

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 22, 2024 7:15am PDT

Attention: AI startups. What’s the best way to sell your company without the prying eyes of antitrust regulators? Make yourself so small you won’t attract attention!We’re serious, kind of. We’re hearing that a lesser-known loophole to the rules determining when companies have to notify antitrust regulators about an acquisition is based on the... Attention: AI startups. What’s the best way to sell your company without the prying eyes of...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Amazon Sofas for $20? Retailer Sets Price Caps for New Temu-like Store

By Theo Wayt · Oct 22, 2024 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

As Amazon prepares to launch a new low-price storefront to combat Temu, it’s imposing severe price caps on what merchants can charge for their wares on the outlet, including an $8 limit for jewelry, $9 for bedding sets, $13 for guitars and $20 for sofas, according to messages from Amazon to merchants seen by The Information. The price caps... As Amazon prepares to launch a new low-price storefront to combat Temu, it’s imposing...

Physical Intelligence CEO Karol Hausman. Photo: YouTube screengrab.

Robotics Startup Discusses $2 Billion Valuation Months After Founding

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kate Clark · Oct 21, 2024 6:32pm PDT · 1 comment

Physical Intelligence CEO Karol Hausman. Photo: YouTube screengrab.

Robotics Startup Discusses $2 Billion Valuation Months After Founding

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kate Clark · Oct 21, 2024 6:32pm PDT · 1 comment

The race to develop physical robots powered by artificial intelligence is on again, despite the industry’s track record of failures—and the threat that OpenAI, which has dominated advances in conversational AI, will become a bigger rival. Physical Intelligence, a startup developing software for robots that could work in a range of... The race to develop physical robots powered by artificial intelligence is on again, despite the...

Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe, at an event by The Information in 2017. Photo by Erin Beach.

Stripe’s Bridge to Crypto

By Martin Peers · Oct 21, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Crypto is so back, baby! Payments firm Stripe confirmed that today with its deal—reportedly $1.1 billion—to buy Bridge, a startup that helps companies make payments using stablecoin (a type of cryptocurrency backed by dollars and other traditional currencies). Given that Bridge’s revenue may be around $12 million, as The Information... Crypto is so back, baby! Payments firm Stripe confirmed that today with its deal—reportedly $1.1...

Stripe headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by Getty.

How Stripe’s $1.1 Billion Crypto Bet Could Pay Off

By Yueqi Yang · Oct 21, 2024 4:07pm PDT

Crypto fans have argued for years that blockchain technology could speed up global payments and make them cheaper. Now payments giant Stripe is making a more than $1 billion bet on that finally becoming a reality—and the crypto industry is rejoicing. Stripe announced on Monday that it had agreed to acquire Bridge, a two-and-a-half-year-old... Crypto fans have argued for years that blockchain technology could speed up global payments and...

GoPuff's fired CTO, Sree Kotay. Photos via Broward County Mugshots (Instagram) and Shutterstock.

Gopuff Fires CTO Months After Battery Arrest

By Theo Wayt · Oct 21, 2024 10:37am PDT

Gopuff fired its chief technology officer on Friday several months after he was arrested on a felony battery charge for allegedly assaulting his longtime romantic partner, according to an internal company email and public records. Sreekant Kotay, who goes by Sree, was arrested in Broward County, Fla., on June 25 and charged with battery and... Gopuff fired its chief technology officer on Friday several months after he was arrested on a...

Photo by Getty

What OpenAI’s Leadership Team Is Missing

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 21, 2024 7:00am PDT

Photo by Getty

What OpenAI’s Leadership Team Is Missing

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 21, 2024 7:00am PDT

A rare piece of OpenAI personnel news: a leader coming back to the company rather than leaving.Senior leaders expect Greg Brockman, co-founder and president, to return to OpenAI in the next month or so, following a sabbatical that started in August. While Brockman had said he would return at the end of the year, his decision to take a break had... A rare piece of OpenAI personnel news: a leader coming back to the company rather than leaving....

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Bank Drama for PayPal, Square After Wells Fargo Bows Out

By Michael Roddan · Oct 21, 2024 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

For more than two decades, Wells Fargo was a juggernaut in a behind-the-scenes business that supported some of the biggest payments companies in the world. The bank’s abrupt exit from that market this year has left a major hole. Block’s Square, for instance, is still hunting for a replacement for Wells Fargo to work on credit card... For more than two decades, Wells Fargo was a juggernaut in a behind-the-scenes business that...

Optimus, Tesla's prototype robot. Photo: Getty

The Electric: Behind the Threat to Tesla’s Optimus Robot From Toyota and Boston Dynamics

By Steve LeVine · Oct 21, 2024 4:30am PDT

At the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, Westinghouse Electric unveiled Elektro, a 7-foot-tall robot that walked, spoke, smoked cigarettes and gestured with its arms. It was all a show—Elektro’s witty conversation flowed from phrases recorded on a vinyl disc inside its massive body. But the robot wowed crowds that piled in to witness its apparent... At the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, Westinghouse Electric unveiled Elektro, a 7-foot-tall robot...

Subscriber Survey

Harris Holds Big Lead Over Trump in Reader Survey

By Scott Thurm · Oct 19, 2024 8:00am PDT · 3 comments

Less than three weeks before election day, Vice President Kamala Harris maintains a commanding lead over former President Donald Trump among The Information readers, according to our most recent survey. Roughly three-fourths of 1,248 respondents to the survey on Wednesday and Thursday said they plan to vote for Harris in the coming presidential... Less than three weeks before election day, Vice President Kamala Harris maintains a commanding...

What’re Zucks’ Bucks Good For?

What’re Zucks’ Bucks Good For?

By Abram Brown · Oct 19, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

What’re Zucks’ Bucks Good For?

What’re Zucks’ Bucks Good For?

By Abram Brown · Oct 19, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: The Pro-Kamala tech lab hoping to outfox Elon Musk• The Top 5: Our favorite new tech and business podcasts of 2024. Plus, the unshakeable Harry Stebbings, host of “20VC.” Plus: A spooky “Lost” that hasn’t lost itself; globetrottin’ teas; and what chocolate says about culture and... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: The Pro-Kamala tech lab hoping to outfox...