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

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Recent Editions

Graphite mining in Quebec, Canada. Photo:

The Electric: In Batteries, China Owns the 2020s—and Possibly the 2030s, Too

By Steve LeVine · Oct 26, 2023 4:30am PDT

A U.S. official said a new Chinese restriction on the export of graphite is a warning that Beijing could also crack down on other materials vital to the electric vehicle industry. Giulia Siccardo, director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s office of manufacturing and energy supply chains, said U.S. auto companies should rethink their reliance... A U.S. official said a new Chinese restriction on the export of graphite is a warning that...

Photo by NurPhoto via Getty.

Meta’s Happy Days Are Here Again, For Now

By Martin Peers · Oct 25, 2023 5:01pm PDT

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has 34.1 billion reasons to be satisfied with the social network’s third-quarter result, released Wednesday afternoon. That’s how many dollars Meta reported as revenue, near the top end of the company’s guidance, and representing 23% growth over the year-earlier revenue line. That’s a return to the kind of... Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has 34.1 billion reasons to be satisfied with the social...

Photo via YouTube/Meta.

Creator Economy

Mark Zuckerberg Talks Up ‘Creator AIs’

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 25, 2023 3:46pm PDT

It’s all about artificial intelligence.That was the message from Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg when he discussed the company’s third-quarter earnings Wednesday on an investor call. Buoyed by strong overall results—the company’s revenue jumped 23% and profit nearly tripled—Zuckerberg said the company’s new AI tools will change the way people... It’s all about artificial intelligence.That was the message from Meta Platforms CEO Mark...

Image via Getty

AI Laggard Intel Expands Effort to Help Companies Build ChatGPT-Like Apps

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 25, 2023 2:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Image via Getty

AI Laggard Intel Expands Effort to Help Companies Build ChatGPT-Like Apps

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 25, 2023 2:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Intel has been largely left behind as an artificial intelligence boom has catapulted rival chipmakers such as Nvidia and Broadcom. While the once-iconic U.S. chipmaker still hopes to grab a piece of the fast-growing AI chip market, in the short term it is trying something different—selling specialized AI software and services. Intel is... Intel has been largely left behind as an artificial intelligence boom has catapulted rival...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Getty.

How Google Kept Apple’s Search Ambitions in Check

By Jon Victor · Oct 25, 2023 10:00am PDT

In 2014, Google executives were deeply concerned about a new Apple feature that gave users of its Safari web browser suggestions for websites to visit rather than routing them to Google, which was paying Apple to be the default search engine on that company’s devices. Google forecast a significant revenue hit from the feature, according to... In 2014, Google executives were deeply concerned about a new Apple feature that gave users of its...

Fred Ehrsam. Photo via Flickr.

Fred Ehrsam’s Quiet Quitting at Paradigm

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 25, 2023 9:06am PDT

Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam is relinquishing his role as managing partner of the crypto-focused firm he co-founded five years ago, I reported yesterday. The writing has been on the wall for a while. As I wrote in my story, Ehrsam—who had previously co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong—has taken a back seat over the past year... Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam is relinquishing his role as managing partner of the...

Jake Cronin and Joe Jordan, cofounders of Siro. Courtesy of Siro.

IVP’s Risky Perplexity Bet; CRV Funds Salestech Startup; OpenAI’s First-Mover Hangover

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 25, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

If you’re tired of digging through piles of websites and adding “Reddit” to the end of your Google searches, you may want to take a look at this red-hot AI-powered search engine startup—which now has the backing of yet another VC.Perplexity, whose search engine product competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, is raising around $50... If you’re tired of digging through piles of websites and adding “Reddit” to the end of your...

Apple CEO Tim Cook and a Vision Pro headset during an Apple conference in June. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty

Apple Has Discussed Using Vision Pro for Mental Health Diagnosis, Treatment

By Wayne Ma · Oct 25, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Apple CEO Tim Cook and a Vision Pro headset during an Apple conference in June. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty

Apple Has Discussed Using Vision Pro for Mental Health Diagnosis, Treatment

By Wayne Ma · Oct 25, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

So far, Apple has pitched its upcoming Vision Pro mixed-reality headset as a tool for working and enjoying various forms of entertainment. But inside the company, employees have also discussed another, more specialized use of the product as a way to diagnose and treat mental health issues, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.... So far, Apple has pitched its upcoming Vision Pro mixed-reality headset as a tool for working and...

Photo via Shutterstock

On AI, It’s Microsoft 1, Google 0

By Martin Peers · Oct 24, 2023 5:01pm PDT

In AI, Microsoft is outdoing its biggest rival, Google. That’s the big takeaway from the two tech giants’ September-quarter results, released Tuesday. Growth at Microsoft’s Azure cloud unit—and the company generally—accelerated in the quarter, which executives credited to higher-than-expected consumption of AI-related services. Yet in the same... In AI, Microsoft is outdoing its biggest rival, Google. That’s the big takeaway from the two tech...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo via YouTube/Snapchat.

Creator Economy

YouTube and Snap Results Suggest Consumers Cooling to Short-Form Video

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 24, 2023 3:36pm PDT

Have consumers started to cool towards short-form video? That’s certainly one read from Google and Snap results. At Snap, the company didn’t break out the monthly active users of its short-form video feature Spotlight, unlike in the second quarter, when Snap said the feature had more than 400 million monthly active users. Snap did say time... Have consumers started to cool towards short-form video? That’s certainly one read from Google...

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Screengrab via YouTube.

IVP Leads Investment in AI Search Startup Perplexity at $500 Million Valuation

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 24, 2023 2:28pm PDT

Venture capital firm IVP is leading an investment in Perplexity, developer of an artificial intelligence–powered search engine that competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, according to people with direct knowledge. The deal values the 1-year-old company at around $500 million, including the new capital, up from a $150... Venture capital firm IVP is leading an investment in Perplexity, developer of an artificial...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s Corporate Sales Come Under Pressure From Microsoft as AI Customers Eye Cheaper Options

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 24, 2023 12:53pm PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s Corporate Sales Come Under Pressure From Microsoft as AI Customers Eye Cheaper Options

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 24, 2023 12:53pm PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI is no longer the only game in town when it comes to selling generative artificial intelligence. That’s beginning to affect the growth of its sales to corporate customers. Less than a year after OpenAI launched ChatGPT and built a considerable consumer business, several big companies that were also early customers of its AI, such as... OpenAI is no longer the only game in town when it comes to selling generative artificial...

Photo via SiFive.

Semiconductor Firm SiFive, on Sidelines of AI Chip Boom, Lays Off 130 Workers

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 24, 2023 12:48pm PDT · 2 comments

SiFive, a semiconductor startup that counted Google as a user of its products, has laid off 20% of its staff, or about 130 people, a company spokesperson confirmed. It’s a sign of strain within the semiconductor sector even as intense demand for artificial intelligence chips buoys Nvidia and others. SiFive, which was valued on paper at... SiFive, a semiconductor startup that counted Google as a user of its products, has laid off 20%...

Photo via Flickr.

Paradigm’s Fred Ehrsam Stepping Down as Managing Partner

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 24, 2023 9:05am PDT

Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam is stepping down as managing partner, according to an email to employees on Tuesday, as the top crypto-focused venture capital firm gears up to raise a new fund and move past the black eye of its major investment in failed crypto exchange FTX. Ehrsam, who co-founded Coinbase before starting the venture firm, told... Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam is stepping down as managing partner, according to an email to...

Subscriber Survey

The Information’s Readers Use AI—and Pay for It

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 24, 2023 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

An overwhelming majority of The Information’s readers say they use artificial intelligence services such as ChatGPT in either their personal or their professional lives, and two-thirds of that group pay for at least one service. That’s according to our latest monthly survey, which also found readers more optimistic about the outlook... An overwhelming majority of The Information’s readers say they use artificial intelligence...

Photo via Together.

Emergence Capital to Fund GPU Reseller Together at $500 Million Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 24, 2023 7:15am PDT

Photo via Together.

Emergence Capital to Fund GPU Reseller Together at $500 Million Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 24, 2023 7:15am PDT

If you’ve been following our reporting on Together (here and here), which sells access to cloud-based servers running on Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips as well as software to help startups train and run AI models, you may remember the firm raising money at a lower valuation than it could have received. If you’ve been following our reporting on Together (here and here), which sells access to...

Art by Shane Burke. Photo via Coastal Community Bank.

How a Fintech Reckoning Is Rippling Through a Small Bank in Washington

By Michael Roddan · Oct 24, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When Washington state–based Coastal Community Bank struck its first fintech partnership with Aspiration, a startup backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Orlando Bloom, it ushered in a new era for the sleepy bank north of Seattle. Starting with that agreement in 2017, Coastal quickly became one of the most prolific banking partners for... When Washington state–based Coastal Community Bank struck its first fintech partnership...

Hello Bello's factory in Waco, Texas. Photo by Rick Kern/Getty.

What a Diaper Bankruptcy Says About the Digital Ad Market

By Ann Gehan · Oct 23, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

It’s getting ugly out there for consumer brands, as today’s bankruptcy filing by Hello Bello, the baby care brand founded by celebrity couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, demonstrates. On the surface, Hello Bello had all the ingredients for success: famous co-founders who could promote the brand to their combined 20 million Instagram followers,... It’s getting ugly out there for consumer brands, as today’s bankruptcy filing by Hello Bello, the...

Elon Musk speaks in front of a test tunnel for The Boring Company in Hawthorne, Calif., in 2018. Photo via Bloomberg/Getty

Boring Co. Shares Rise Over 22% in Employee Share Sale

By Becky Peterson and Mark Matousek · Oct 23, 2023 4:41pm PDT · 4 comments

Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has sold shares owned by employees and investors at a price over 22% higher than in a funding round for the tunneling startup last year, according to two people familiar with the matter. The most recent price gives the startup an implied valuation of over $7 billion and suggests investors have faith that the... Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has sold shares owned by employees and investors at a price...

The YouTube Indicator to Watch

The YouTube Indicator to Watch

By Sahil Patel · Oct 23, 2023 2:47pm PDT

The YouTube Indicator to Watch

Creator Economy

The YouTube Indicator to Watch

By Sahil Patel · Oct 23, 2023 2:47pm PDT

Will short-form video ever generate meaningful revenue for creators on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram? The next three months will go a long way to answering that question. Just pay attention to YouTube. Advertisers in the summer committed more than $7 billion to YouTube during the annual advertising negotiations known as upfronts. These... Will short-form video ever generate meaningful revenue for creators on YouTube, TikTok and...