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

Illustration by Shane Burke

China’s Venture Firms Reckon With a Power Shift to LPs

By Juro Osawa and Jing Yang · Oct 11, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

In mid-September, dozens of global investors, including U.S. endowments, foundations and family offices, descended on the Chinese city of Chengdu looking for answers. They were there for a gathering hosted by Unicorn Capital Partners, a Hong Kong–based investment firm that helps global investors like them take stakes in funds run by... In mid-September, dozens of global investors, including U.S. endowments, foundations and family...

Caroline Ellison arrives at court in New York today. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

SBF Didn’t Understand Risk-Reward

By Martin Peers · Oct 10, 2023 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment

Just when it seemed there was nothing new we could learn from the SBF saga, the FTX founder's onetime deputy (and onetime romantic partner) Caroline Ellison testified in court on Tuesday. And her account of Sam Bankman-Fried’s attitudes toward risk, which helped set the stage for FTX’s bankruptcy, was truly mind-blowing. Whatever the outcome of... Just when it seemed there was nothing new we could learn from the SBF saga, the FTX founder's...

Chart by Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Funding for U.S. Creator Economy Startups Is (Slowly) Recovering

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 10, 2023 3:12pm PDT

Funding for U.S. creator economy startups is showing slow signs of recovery after hitting a record low during the first quarter of the year, although it’s nowhere near the funding bonanza of 2021. Deals for services startups such as payments company Karat and link-in-bio and commerce startup Komi helped drive investments.U.S. funding... Funding for U.S. creator economy startups is showing slow signs of recovery after hitting a...

Jeremi Gorman. Photo by Getty.

Netflix’s Ad Exec Shakeup Was Part of Effort to Speed Growth

By Sahil Patel · Oct 10, 2023 9:30am PDT

Jeremi Gorman. Photo by Getty.

Netflix’s Ad Exec Shakeup Was Part of Effort to Speed Growth

By Sahil Patel · Oct 10, 2023 9:30am PDT

Turning Netflix into an advertising goliath is proving tougher than the video-streaming giant expected. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters decided to replace ad sales chief Jeremi Gorman with Amy Reinhard, a longtime Netflix executive, in hopes of accelerating the ad business’ growth, according to people with knowledge of the matter. One sign of... Turning Netflix into an advertising goliath is proving tougher than the video-streaming giant...

Photo courtesy of Neil Serebryany.

Want to Trick an LLM? Try Asking It Nicely or Use Argentinian Spanish

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 10, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Here’s a tip: if you want ChatGPT, or any other large-language model, to tell you something that it’s trained not to give you, try paying it a compliment. For instance, telling ChatGPT that it’s the best AI-powered chatbot in the world before asking it to provide instructions to build a bomb is more likely to work than just asking... Here’s a tip: if you want ChatGPT, or any other large-language model, to tell you something that...

Art by Clark Miller

Tesla Builds a New Home for ‘Dojo’ Supercomputer as AI Ambitions Rise

By Becky Peterson · Oct 10, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

At Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, a new bunkerlike structure is under construction that could one day help move the company beyond electric vehicle manufacturing. When it’s completed, the building will house part of a new supercomputer, known as Dojo, that Tesla is assembling to help run the artificial intelligence software... At Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, a new bunkerlike structure is under construction...

Elon Musk. Photo via AP.

Elon Musk’s X Cut Disinformation-Fighting Tool Ahead of Israel-Hamas Conflict

By Erin Woo · Oct 9, 2023 5:33pm PDT · 6 comments

Elon Musk’s X, in the months before conflict erupted in Gaza, ceased utilizing a software tool used to identify organized misinformation now spreading across the platform formerly known as Twitter. In recent months, the company shut down an internal product that could identify when different accounts shared the same or similar media,... Elon Musk’s X, in the months before conflict erupted in Gaza, ceased utilizing a software...

Nvidia Cloud Ally Nears $300 Million Financing

By Kate Clark and Anissa Gardizy · Oct 9, 2023 5:21pm PDT

Nvidia Cloud Ally Nears $300 Million Financing

By Kate Clark and Anissa Gardizy · Oct 9, 2023 5:21pm PDT

Lambda Labs, which competes with Amazon Web Services in renting out servers with Nvidia chips to developers of artificial intelligence, is nearing a $300 million equity financing, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. An investment fund led by billionaire Thomas Tull plans to fund a substantial part of the round,... Lambda Labs, which competes with Amazon Web Services in renting out servers with Nvidia chips to...

Nelson Peltz. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Why Peltz Isn’t the Solution for Disney’s Problems

By Martin Peers · Oct 9, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Here’s a shoutout to those tech folks—among many, many others—who are putting their lives on the line as members of Israel’s defense forces right now, responding to the Hamas attack over the weekend. It puts everything else into perspective. For more details on Israeli tech folks’ involvement, see our story here. Meanwhile, Nelson Peltz has... Here’s a shoutout to those tech folks—among many, many others—who are putting their lives on the...

The rubble after Israeli airstrikes on Islamic National Bank of Gaza destroyed buildings and neighborhoods in Gaza City, Gaza on October 8. Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty

Creator Economy

X’s War Moment; Parade’s Influencer Marketing Costs

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 9, 2023 3:29pm PDT

X, formerly known as Twitter, is undergoing the first real test of its approach to content moderation since Elon Musk took over the app in late October. Hamas’ attacks on Israel over the weekend, and Israel’s strikes in retaliation, exploded over social media, including X. Viral moments from conflict zones, often uploaded by citizens, have been... X, formerly known as Twitter, is undergoing the first real test of its approach to content...

Israeli army deploys military vehicles near the Gaza border in Sderot, Israel on October 9. Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty.

Israeli Tech Workers Head to the Front Lines of War with Hamas

By Aaron Holmes, Jon Victor and Natasha Mascarenhas · Oct 9, 2023 12:42pm PDT · 4 comments

Israel’s tech industry is moving to the front lines of the country’s sudden war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Employees of Israeli software companies have been drafted to Israel’s military reserves to join or support an incursion into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after the group gunned down hundreds of Israeli... Israel’s tech industry is moving to the front lines of the country’s sudden war...

Photo by Midjourney.

The AI Chip Wars Rage On; The Rise of the AI Academic-Turned-Founder; Has No One Seen Black Mirror?

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 9, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Photo by Midjourney.

The AI Chip Wars Rage On; The Rise of the AI Academic-Turned-Founder; Has No One Seen Black Mirror?

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 9, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

When Microsoft took an early bet on OpenAI in 2019, investing $1 billion into the startup, it also placed a major bet on another project: creating a competitor to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, we reported back in April. Now, years later, Microsoft executives plan to unveil a chip designed for artificial intelligence next month at Ignite,... When Microsoft took an early bet on OpenAI in 2019, investing $1 billion into the startup, it...

Art by Clark Miller

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Looks for Investing Redemption

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Oct 9, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

There was a time, not long ago, when Masayoshi Son couldn’t keep his hands off the Vision Fund, the swashbuckling investment firm overseen by the Japanese conglomerate he runs, SoftBank Group. He micromanaged the firm’s partners, frequently butting in on deals to play Silicon Valley kingmaker by throwing billions of... There was a time, not long ago, when Masayoshi Son couldn’t keep his hands off the Vision...

Mercedes-Benz plans to offer a silicon carbon electrode made by Sila Nanotechnologies as an option in some of its mid-decade ultra-luxury G-class electric cars. Photo: Courtesy Mercedes-Benz

The Electric: Fast-Charging Silicon Comes to EVs

By Steve LeVine · Oct 9, 2023 4:31am PDT

Engineers have improved lithium-ion batteries little by little since the debut of the first modern electric vehicles a decade and a half ago, making tweaks that together have tremendously reduced cell prices and boosted driving range. But a truly blockbuster breakthrough has evaded the industry, something that in a single stroke could make EVs... Engineers have improved lithium-ion batteries little by little since the debut of the first...

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 7, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Silicon Valley loves a wunderkind, as we covered extensively last spring. It also loves to pattern-match, projecting visions of future success on entrepreneurs who look a lot like winners of the past. So what happens when an obvious wunderkind doesn’t look anything like her predecessors? It took a lot of... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Silicon Valley loves a wunderkind, as we covered extensively last...

Art by Clark Miller.

‘It’s a Cult’: Inside Effective Accelerationism, the Pro-AI Movement Taking Over Silicon Valley

By Margaux MacColl · Oct 7, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

‘It’s a Cult’: Inside Effective Accelerationism, the Pro-AI Movement Taking Over Silicon Valley

By Margaux MacColl · Oct 7, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

“Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, Y Combinator president Garry Tan and Notion co-founder Chris Prucha looked up at the cartoon of a shirtless man, his six-pack abs gleaming against a swirling galactic background. They were eager to listen to what the man had to say. The cartoon was the avatar for Beff Jezos (nope, not Jeff Bezos), the... “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, Y Combinator president Garry Tan and Notion co-founder...

Photo via Getty

ByteDance Stock Is Very Cheap—for Good Reason

By Martin Peers · Oct 6, 2023 4:00pm PDT

You might have missed it, with all the drama this week about Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial (for our deep dive, see here) and the latest updates from the world of AI, but we got a detailed update on ByteDance’s robust financial performance. And what that told us is that shareholders in the parent company of TikTok have reason to be very frustrated.... You might have missed it, with all the drama this week about Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial (for our...

Courtroom sketch of Sam Bankman-Fried, right, and his attorney Christian Everdell during jury selection on Oct. 3. Photo by Elizabeth Williams via AP.

In the Courtroom With SBF

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 6, 2023 3:33pm PDT · 3 comments

Flanked by his two top lawyers, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried sat, mostly silent, on the 26th floor in a Manhattan courtroom for the first week of his criminal trial, where he’s being tried for fraud and conspiracy charges related to his role in the collapse of one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges. One of the first... Flanked by his two top lawyers, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried sat, mostly silent, on the 26th...

Image via Shutterstock

Microsoft to Debut AI Chip Next Month That Could Cut Nvidia GPU Costs

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 6, 2023 1:06pm PDT · 3 comments

Microsoft next month plans to unveil the company’s first chip designed for artificial intelligence at its annual developers’ conference, according to a person with direct knowledge. The move, a culmination of years of work, could help Microsoft lessen its reliance on Nvidia-designed AI chips, which have been in short supply as demand... Microsoft next month plans to unveil the company’s first chip designed for artificial...

How to Save Your Startup, Twitter/X, Threads (and Swift’s Stunt Romance)

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 6, 2023 11:57am PDT

How to Save Your Startup, Twitter/X, Threads (and Swift’s Stunt Romance)

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 6, 2023 11:57am PDT

On More or Less, we often like to discuss how startups are changing and how investors will adapt (and vice versa). And so, I took the opportunity this week to deliver a little rant about the term "lifestyle business," which has often irked me. Lots of other discussion on what's next for Twitter, Threads, social and—because we... On More or Less, we often like to discuss how startups are changing and how investors will adapt...