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

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’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

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

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

Create Raises $5 Million Thanks to Creatine Craze

By Ann Gehan · Sep 3, 2024 2:19pm PDT

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

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....

Photo via Adobe Stock

Two AI Developers Are Plotting $125 Billion Supercomputers

By Anissa Gardizy · Sep 3, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Adobe Stock

Two AI Developers Are Plotting $125 Billion Supercomputers

By Anissa Gardizy · Sep 3, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Developers of artificial intelligence say they need bigger and bigger data centers to concentrate processing power so that it produces better versions of the technology.The companies are notoriously secretive about the details of those plans, though, which is why we just published an AI Data Center Database that lists some of the biggest... Developers of artificial intelligence say they need bigger and bigger data centers to concentrate...

Introducing the AI Data Center Database

By Anissa Gardizy · Sep 3, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

The biggest developers of artificial intelligence closely guard their state-of-the-art technology, but they’re arguably even more secretive about the specialized data centers needed to develop it. The Information is lifting the veil on existing and planned AI data centers, sometimes known as supercomputers or AI chip clusters, in a... The biggest developers of artificial intelligence closely guard their state-of-the-art...

Volkswagen has bought almost 20% of QuantumScape for $300 million. Photos: Getty; Shutterstock

The Electric: Will VW’s $21 Billion Investment Spree Produce Winning EVs?

By Steve LeVine · Sep 2, 2024 4:30am PDT · 3 comments

In 2022, Volkswagen’s board fired chair Herbert Diess after a rocky tenure in which, while pushing employees to move fast into the electric vehicle age, he reportedly angered powerful German labor leaders and regional government officials. The last straw, analysts said, was the failure of a core Diess project—internally designed software that... In 2022, Volkswagen’s board fired chair Herbert Diess after a rocky tenure in which, while...

Philippe Laffont at The Information's Private Capital Conference in April. Photo by Nicole Pereira/The Information.

Coatue Founder Laffont Leaves Board of TikTok Parent ByteDance

By Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · Aug 31, 2024 9:35am PDT

Coatue Management founder Philippe Laffont has left the board of ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, according to the company’s website. At the same time, ByteDance has added a new director, French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel. Laffont’s departure follows The Information’s report last week that Coatue was considering selling a... Coatue Management founder Philippe Laffont has left the board of ByteDance, the parent of TikTok,...

Art by Clark Miller

The Risk Guru Rides Again

By Abram Brown · Aug 31, 2024 7:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

The Risk Guru Rides Again

By Abram Brown · Aug 31, 2024 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: A videogame that fuels fake wars• HBO’s surprise Sunday night wager—and what else we’re watching this fallPlus: A deepfake music video; Apple’s little-loved masterpiece; and the moment when Silicon Valley saved the military. Oh! Look who’s back in our lives: Nate Silver, the... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: A videogame that fuels fake wars• HBO’s ...

Art by Clark Miller (Photos: HBO)

Media and Entertainment

HBO’s Surprise Sunday Night Wager

By Josh Duboff · Aug 31, 2024 5:00am PDT · 2 comments

Konrad Kay and Mickey Down were out at a party near the end of 2023 when they received word from HBO that their show, “Industry,” would move from its home on Monday evenings to the television industry’s premier time slot: 9 p.m. on Sunday, a position HBO had previously given to the likes of “Succession,” “Game... Konrad Kay and Mickey Down were out at a party near the end of 2023 when they received word from...

California State Senator Scott Wiener. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.California State Senator Scott Wiener. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

What California AI Bill Could Mean

By Martin Peers · Aug 30, 2024 4:35pm PDT

The constantly humming AI-news machine revved up a notch this week, what with Nvidia’s earnings report, news about OpenAI’s fundraising and the first ever data about how many people are using Meta AI. But potentially the biggest development was the passage in the California legislature of SB 1047, aimed at addressing the risks of AI. It has... The constantly humming AI-news machine revved up a notch this week, what with Nvidia’s earnings...

Stills from our subscriber call on SB 1047. Photo via The Information.

California’s AI Bill Won’t Harm Open Source, Says Author

By Laura Mandaro · Aug 30, 2024 4:22pm PDT

A California bill that could penalize the makers of large artificial intelligence models if they’re found to cause harm is headed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, where its outcome is uncertain. “I do not know what the governor will do,” said Scott Wiener, the state senator from San Francisco who authored SB 1047, in a... A California bill that could penalize the makers of large artificial intelligence models if...

An AI rendering of the gang at Burning Man. Credit: Runway and Pica.

Telegram, Free Speech and Its Limits

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 30, 2024 10:36am PDT

An AI rendering of the gang at Burning Man. Credit: Runway and Pica.

Telegram, Free Speech and Its Limits

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 30, 2024 10:36am PDT

Should you have free speech inside America if you are not an American? That was one of the meaty questions we discussed this week, following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov. The gang took the opportunity to check in on deeper questions that remain unanswered about freedom of speech and censorship. While the topic can feel... Should you have free speech inside America if you are not an American? That was one of...