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

Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images.

Meta Explores AI-Assisted Earphones With Cameras

By Kalley Huang and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · May 13, 2024 9:30am PDT

Meta Platforms is exploring developing artificial intelligence–powered earphones with cameras, which the company hopes could be used to identify objects and translate foreign languages, according to three current employees. Meta’s work on a new AI device comes as several tech companies look to develop AI wearables, and after Meta... Meta Platforms is exploring developing artificial intelligence–powered earphones with...

Sam Altman and Sundar Pichai. Photos via Getty Images.

OpenAI Looks To Steal Google’s Thunder; Unicorn AI Marketing Startup Typeface Acquires Consumer Chatbot App

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 13, 2024 7:00am PDT

Later today, OpenAI is expected to unveil a bunch of new products. For a sneak peek at what could come, you can check out our story from Friday. But the timing of the event is interesting, given that tomorrow is Google’s largest annual developer conference, Google I/O, where that company is also expected to make a slew of AI-related... Later today, OpenAI is expected to unveil a bunch of new products. For a sneak peek at what could...

Nvidia's booth at a trade show in Hangzhou, China in October 2023. Photo by FeatureChina via AP.

Chinese Regulators Tell Local Tech Firms to Buy Fewer Nvidia Chips

By Qianer Liu · May 13, 2024 6:00am PDT

Chinese authorities have a message for the local tech industry: Buy Chinese. Officials with government agencies in recent months have told tech firms, including TikTok parent ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu, to cut back on their purchase of foreign-made artificial intelligence chips in favor of buying more domestically made chips, said two... Chinese authorities have a message for the local tech industry: Buy Chinese. Officials with...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Photo: Getty.

The Electric: The Tesla Model 2 Was Nearly Ready for Production When Musk Scrapped It

By Steve LeVine · May 13, 2024 4:30am PDT · 4 comments

Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Photo: Getty.

The Electric: The Tesla Model 2 Was Nearly Ready for Production When Musk Scrapped It

By Steve LeVine · May 13, 2024 4:30am PDT · 4 comments

Early this year, a team of Tesla engineers was working out stubborn kinks in the Model 2, the company’s long-awaited $25,000 electric vehicle, which was to be ready for pilot production later this year and high-volume manufacture in 2025. The engineers believed they would surmount the technical difficulties, including with the car’s signature... Early this year, a team of Tesla engineers was working out stubborn kinks in the Model 2, the...

Apple Thought Different and Paid the Consequences

Apple Thought Different and Paid the Consequences

By Abram Brown · May 11, 2024 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Meet Sequoia Capital’s Musk whisperer Our favorite new power-dining spots Plus: A funny-as-hell boss from hell; the mojo-less media; and a galactic bug hunt.As a small, dumb boy at heart, I saw the flying paint and smashed smithereens in Apple’s new iPad ad and honestly thought nothing more... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Meet Sequoia Capital’s Musk whisperer Our favorite...

Art by Clark Miller

The Best New Power-Dining Spots Specialize in Fishy Bliss

By Ryan Sutton · May 11, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

On the bottom floor of a luxury high-rise in San Francisco’s SOMA district—a few blocks away from Slack’s headquarters—a newly relocated counter spot sends out puffy milk toast with toro and golden osetra caviar. It sears blackthroat sea perch and tops it with onion jam. Welcome to Akikos, where dinner runs $250, or more... On the bottom floor of a luxury high-rise in San Francisco’s SOMA district—a few...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. AP Photo/Jon Gambrell

OpenAI Develops AI Voice Assistant As It Chases Google, Apple

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · May 10, 2024 3:25pm PDT · 4 comments

In the race to develop artificial intelligence that communicates the way humans do, OpenAI is preparing to demonstrate technology that talks to people—using sound as well as text—and recognizes objects and images. The ChatGPT developer has shown some of these capabilities, which include better logical reasoning than its current... In the race to develop artificial intelligence that communicates the way humans do, OpenAI is...

Nick Giovanni. Photo via Instacart.

Instacart’s CFO Shuffle

By Martin Peers · May 10, 2024 3:00pm PDT

Nick Giovanni. Photo via Instacart.

Instacart’s CFO Shuffle

By Martin Peers · May 10, 2024 3:00pm PDT

It’s Friday. What did we learn this week, aside from the fact that Apple’s marketing department is overrun with philistines? Maybe the most interesting tech news was Instacart’s disclosure that Nick Giovanni, the onetime senior Goldman Sachs media-tech-telecom banker who jumped to the grocery-delivery firm to be chief financial officer in... It’s Friday. What did we learn this week, aside from the fact that Apple’s marketing department ...

Is Social Media Dead?

By Jessica E. Lessin · May 10, 2024 2:36pm PDT · 1 comment

This week, we addressed a topic that is often on my mind: our social media diets. I've been thinking a lot about mine, and it turns out that my friends and husband have too! That topic plus a very spirited debate about Apple's iPad ad and the broader significance of the controversy. Also, the latest in socks and sleep. I hope you enjoy.... This week, we addressed a topic that is often on my mind: our social media diets. I've been...

Art by Clark Miller

The Musk Whisperer

By Margaux MacColl · May 10, 2024 9:00am PDT · 20 comments

On Oct. 17, several executives in tech contacted Sequoia Capital managing partner Roelof Botha, all making the same simple demand: Fire Shaun Maguire. Maguire, a 38-year-old partner at Sequoia, had spent the past 10 days posting fierce defenses of Israel on X (the social media platform he had helped steer Sequoia money into). He often wrote... On Oct. 17, several executives in tech contacted Sequoia Capital managing partner Roelof Botha,...

Pro Weekly: How Our 200 Promising Startups Have Fared

Pro Weekly: How Our 200 Promising Startups Have Fared

By Akash Pasricha · May 10, 2024 8:00am PDT

Every year, The Information’s reporters identify the 50 most promising technology startups. In total, we’ve spotted 200 companies over four years that are logged in The Information 50 Database. My colleague Abubakar Idris and I spent the week looking back on our picks and updating the financial details for each company. Several businesses have... Every year, The Information’s reporters identify the 50 most promising technology startups. In...

Art by Clark Miller. Musk via Getty Images

At Tesla, a Wild Week That Defined the Company’s Future

By Steve LeVine and Becky Peterson · May 10, 2024 6:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller. Musk via Getty Images

At Tesla, a Wild Week That Defined the Company’s Future

By Steve LeVine and Becky Peterson · May 10, 2024 6:00am PDT

On Feb. 28, Elon Musk used X, the social media service he owns, to make a bold promise about a product from one of his other companies, Tesla. In a post, he said a new version of the Roadster—a successor to the electric car that put Tesla on the map in 2008—would be able to accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than a... On Feb. 28, Elon Musk used X, the social media service he owns, to make a bold promise about a...

John Ternus, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering. Photo by Bebeto Matthews/AP.

Tim Cook, Bob Iger and Reading Between the Media Lines

By Jessica E. Lessin · May 9, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Just as there is an art to managing a CEO succession process from the inside (at least I imagine that to be the case—I have never done it myself), there’s a not so often discussed playbook for how a reporter writes about succession.It starts by writing a profile of the person you really, really think will get the job, though you can’t come out... Just as there is an art to managing a CEO succession process from the inside (at least I imagine...

Elon Musk at the Milken Institute's Global Conference on Monday. Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images.

Great—More Money for Musk

By Kate Clark · May 9, 2024 3:09pm PDT · 9 comments

Elon Musk is raising $6 billion for xAI, maker of Musk’s “anti-woke” artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, in a deal set to close Friday, according to our sources. The startup’s first outside funding values xAI at $18 billion, remarkable for a year-old company. It’s a reminder of what’s wrong with venture capital. The massive round has come... Elon Musk is raising $6 billion for xAI, maker of Musk’s “anti-woke” artificial intelligence...

A screening at the 2023 AI Film Festival. Photo via Runway/AI Film Festival.

Creator Economy

Runway Charms Filmmakers; Meta Exec Responds to TikTok Ban

By Abubakar Idris · May 9, 2024 2:47pm PDT · 1 comment

When Marvel used artificial intelligence in the opening title sequence of the television series “Secret Invasion,” last year, it signaled AI had found its way into Hollywood. That didn’t sit well with a lot of people in entertainment. On-strike actors last year attributed some of their grievances to the impact of AI on their jobs. One... When Marvel used artificial intelligence in the opening title sequence of the television series “...

Photo by Dinendra Haria/SIPA USA via AP.

Fast-Delivery Survivor Gopuff Burned $400 Million Last Year

By Theo Wayt and Cory Weinberg · May 9, 2024 11:18am PDT · 2 comments

Photo by Dinendra Haria/SIPA USA via AP.

Fast-Delivery Survivor Gopuff Burned $400 Million Last Year

By Theo Wayt and Cory Weinberg · May 9, 2024 11:18am PDT · 2 comments

Instant-delivery pioneer Gopuff is the last speedy-delivery startup left standing in the U.S. after its best-funded competitor, Getir, said last week it would pull out of the country. That’s left Gopuff in the same position it was in 10 years and billions of dollars ago: trying to beat DoorDash. But Gopuff is in a weaker financial position... Instant-delivery pioneer Gopuff is the last speedy-delivery startup left standing in the U.S....

Art by Shane Burke.

Developers Push to Build AI Models Native to Non-English Languages

By Kalley Huang · May 9, 2024 8:06am PDT

¿Habla español? Parlez-vous français? You might, but today’s large language models may not speak either Spanish or French very well. It’s a shortcoming that many developers are trying to address, especially since making LLMs available in more languages may attract more users. To give a sense of the issue, Meta Platforms said in a blog post... ¿Habla español? Parlez-vous français? You might, but today’s large language models may not speak...

A Community Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens, New York. Photo by Michael Roddan.

As Banks Cut Off Risky Fintechs, a Tiny Lender Leans In

By Michael Roddan · May 9, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

In Woodhaven, Queens, beneath an elevated subway line an hour’s ride from Manhattan, sits an unremarkable bank branch, squeezed between a shuttered Rite Aid and a children’s events space that moonlights as a venue for $10 adult Zumba dance classes. A plastic banner fastened to the shop front bears the lender’s name: Community... In Woodhaven, Queens, beneath an elevated subway line an hour’s ride from Manhattan, sits...

Elon Musk speaks with Michael Milken at this year's Milken Institute Global Conference. Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images.

Milken’s New Power Players

By Cory Weinberg · May 8, 2024 5:00pm PDT

It’s no secret that the suits at the annual big-money confab put on by the Milken Institute this week have few spending limits. Staring you in the face in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton is a booth set up by Bombardier, marketing its private jets to attendees. (A new 10-seater costs $32 million, I learned.)What attendees can’t really buy,... It’s no secret that the suits at the annual big-money confab put on by the Milken Institute this...

TikTok offices in Culver City. Photo by Getty

A Chart Shows TikTok's Growing List of Rivals

By Kaya Yurieff · May 8, 2024 2:00pm PDT

TikTok offices in Culver City. Photo by Getty

Creator Economy

A Chart Shows TikTok's Growing List of Rivals

By Kaya Yurieff · May 8, 2024 2:00pm PDT

As TikTok kicks off its legal fight against a ban or forced sale of the app in the U.S., our chart below shows just how much competition it faces from other big tech companies, which stand to gain from a potential retreat. While Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are the two most popular alternatives among creators to TikTok, other... As TikTok kicks off its legal fight against a ban or forced sale of the app in the U.S., our...