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

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Creator Economy

Watch But Don’t Worry About the Coming AI Influencers

By Erin Woo · Apr 11, 2024 3:21pm PDT

This morning, my colleagues Jing, Juro and I reported that TikTok has started to develop an advertising tool that would generate AI avatars to star in advertisers’ videos. The feature is still far from ready, we reported. Still, TikTok’s efforts indicate that the company could try to shake up the way creators make money again. ... This morning, my colleagues Jing, Juro and I reported that TikTok has started to develop an...

OpenAI signage at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona in February 2024. Photo by SIPA USA via AP.

OpenAI Researchers, Including Ally of Sutskever, Fired for Alleged Leaking

By Erin Woo and Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 11, 2024 1:18pm PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI has fired two researchers for allegedly leaking information, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. They include Leopold Aschenbrenner, a researcher on a team dedicated to keeping artificial intelligence safe for society. Aschenbrenner was also an ally of OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who... OpenAI has fired two researchers for allegedly leaking information, according to a person...

Photo by Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Temu Flip-Flopped on Cotton Policy Meant to Weed Out Forced Labor, Suppliers Say

By Jing Yang · Apr 11, 2024 7:35am PDT · 1 comment

Temu, a China-founded bargain shopping app, has been under fire from U.S. lawmakers, who say it hasn’t done enough to stamp out the use of forced labor in its supply chain. Temu, for its part, has said it keeps close watch on the thousands of small manufacturers that make up its sprawling supplier base. But last year, Temu walked back a... Temu, a China-founded bargain shopping app, has been under fire from U.S. lawmakers, who say it...

Photo via Getty Images.

A New Wave of Foundation Model Developers Is Coming

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 11, 2024 7:20am PDT

Photo via Getty Images.

A New Wave of Foundation Model Developers Is Coming

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 11, 2024 7:20am PDT

For months, venture capitalists have been telling me the same thing: the foundation model game is over. Between OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Google and dozens of open-source model developers, there’s just no way for a company developing a new large language model to break into the market. In recent weeks, though, VCs have modified that stance... For months, venture capitalists have been telling me the same thing: the foundation model game is...

Illustration of AI-generated influencers. Art by Shane Burke.

TikTok Plots Using Virtual Influencers for Advertising

By Erin Woo, Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · Apr 11, 2024 6:00am PDT

TikTok touts itself as a platform where creators can stand out and build a following. But the company has begun discussing with advertisers an artificial intelligence-powered feature that would generate avatars to star in videos—virtual influencers that would potentially compete with human creators for ad deals. The feature, which is... TikTok touts itself as a platform where creators can stand out and build a following. But the...

Wright Electric CEO Jeff Engler, whose company is a contestant in Arpa-E's competition to invent a 1,000 watt-hour per kilogram battery. Photo: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: 13 Teams Compete to Invent the Most Powerful Superbattery

By Steve LeVine · Apr 11, 2024 4:30am PDT

Amid grave investor doubts about the viability of next-generation batteries, a half-dozen U.S. companies and seven universities are competing in a government-sponsored contest to quadruple the energy density of the world’s best commercial electric vehicle batteries. Amid grave investor doubts about the viability of next-generation batteries, a half-dozen U.S....

Photo by Valeriya Zankovych/Adobe Stock.

Meta’s New Chip Underlines Questions About AI Spending

By Martin Peers · Apr 10, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Mark Zuckerberg seems to enjoy stealing Sundar Pichai’s thunder. Close observers of the cloud sector will know that Google Cloud has one of its big annual events in Las Vegas this week, and it’s rolling out lots of announcements, including a new custom-designed chip for cloud computing. It seems Meta Platforms couldn’t resist getting in on the... Mark Zuckerberg seems to enjoy stealing Sundar Pichai’s thunder. Close observers of the cloud...

Photo via Adobe Stock

The Hard Numbers on YouTube Shorts

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 10, 2024 2:17pm PDT

Photo via Adobe Stock

Creator Economy

The Hard Numbers on YouTube Shorts

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 10, 2024 2:17pm PDT

Last week, we published a deep dive into YouTube, whose leaders are bringing a new focus on financial discipline at the expense of support staff that helped creators grow and manage their accounts. That focus on the bottom line has raised the hackles of creators. But they could justifiably be more outraged about the slim financial payouts... Last week, we published a deep dive into YouTube, whose leaders are bringing a new focus on...

Amazon headquarters in Arlington, Va. Photo by Andrew Cabellero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images.

Amazon Lets Employees Swap Stock Grants for Cash

By Theo Wayt · Apr 10, 2024 1:20pm PDT · 3 comments

Amazon is giving its mid- and lower-level corporate employees a chance to decide how much they want to tie their future pay to the company’s stock performance. In May, Amazon will give many U.S. corporate employees the option of reducing the amount of stock they receive next year by a quarter in exchange for more cash, according to an... Amazon is giving its mid- and lower-level corporate employees a chance to decide how much they...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

TikTok Owner ByteDance Misled Regulators on Payments Probe

By Michael Roddan · Apr 10, 2024 10:07am PDT

In early 2023, Irish banking regulators contacted ByteDance with a pointed question: Why was the Chinese internet giant and parent company of TikTok moving large sums of money, likely in the tens of millions of dollars, out of its HSBC bank accounts? ByteDance officials quickly sought to assuage their concerns by telling the Irish regulators it... In early 2023, Irish banking regulators contacted ByteDance with a pointed question: Why was the...

Cris Valenzuela, CEO of Runway. Photo by Nicole Pereira.

Don’t Mortgage Your Future to Microsoft, Says Coatue’s Chief Investment Officer—And What Else You Missed from Our Private Capital Conference

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 10, 2024 7:00am PDT

Artificial intelligence wasn’t the stated theme of The Information’s Private Capital Conference on Tuesday at the New York Stock Exchange but it was the topic on everyone’s lips. Artificial intelligence wasn’t the stated theme of The Information’s Private Capital Conference...

Funding for Generative AI Startups Shifts to Applications

By Akash Pasricha · Apr 10, 2024 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Funding for Generative AI Startups Shifts to Applications

By Akash Pasricha · Apr 10, 2024 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

In the world of generative artificial intelligence startups, chatbots are so 2023. This year, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are building and backing new applications of the emerging technology, including humanlike robots and voice generators. In the first quarter, venture capitalists plowed more than $2.2 billion into startups tracked by... In the world of generative artificial intelligence startups, chatbots are so 2023. This year,...

Juliet de Baubigny of BDT & MSD Partners and Tony Kim of BlackRock on Tuesday.

Private Capital Conference

Highlights From The Information’s Private Capital Conference

By The Information Staff · Apr 9, 2024 6:54pm PDT

Investors at The Information’s Private Capital Conference Tuesday said the shakeout in valuations the past two years has given them more opportunities to find attractive deals—even in beaten-down sectors such as e-commerce. But tech founders face higher hurdles to go public and many initial public offerings remain far off, even for... Investors at The Information’s Private Capital Conference Tuesday said the shakeout in...

Left to right: The Information's Kate Clark and Cory Weinberg; Akrati Johari, Chief Growth Officer and Head of ZXData at Zanbato; and Gaurav Mathur, founding partner at Pinegrove Capital Partners. Photo by Nicole Pereira.

General Atlantic and Mubadala Send Positive Signals About Market

By Martin Peers · Apr 9, 2024 5:15pm PDT

The stock market is setting records, partly due to enthusiasm about artificial intelligence, a sector where valuations have soared. The IPO market isn’t back to where it was before interest rates started rising. Yet some investors are more upbeat about investment conditions than they’ve been in a while, judging from comments at our Private... The stock market is setting records, partly due to enthusiasm about artificial intelligence, a...

Ibrahim Ajami at The Information's Private Capital Conference Tuesday.

Private Capital Conference

Mubadala Capital’s Ajami Says Firm Is Going on ‘Offense’

By Becky Peterson · Apr 9, 2024 4:54pm PDT · 3 comments

Mubadala Capital, the investment arm of a giant Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, is “moving into offense,” according to Ibrahim Ajami, Mubadala’s head of venture investments. “We’re leaning in,” he said, adding that the days of passive investing in vehicles like SoftBank’s Vision Fund are over. Speaking... Mubadala Capital, the investment arm of a giant Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, is “moving...

Anton Levy, co-president, General Atlantic, left. Philippe Laffont, founder Coatue Management, right. Photos by Nicole Pereira.

General Atlantic Sees Value in Chinese Startups; Coatue Tries to Avoid AI Exuberance

By Abubakar Idris · Apr 9, 2024 3:14pm PDT

Anton Levy, co-president, General Atlantic, left. Philippe Laffont, founder Coatue Management, right. Photos by Nicole Pereira.

General Atlantic Sees Value in Chinese Startups; Coatue Tries to Avoid AI Exuberance

By Abubakar Idris · Apr 9, 2024 3:14pm PDT

The stock market is near a record high. Six public tech companies are worth more than $1 trillion. Even bitcoin has made a comeback! But the titans of private capital aren’t over the moon with optimism yet. That may be because they’re still working through the hangover of the zero-interest-rate funding boom in their own portfolios. “... The stock market is near a record high. Six public tech companies are worth more than $1...

Dude Perfect raised more than $100 million from Highmount Capital. Photo: Dude Perfect

Creator Economy

What Dude Perfect’s Fundraise Says About the Creator Economy

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 9, 2024 2:40pm PDT

As creators’ popularity has grown, some of the biggest are now raising capital to transform their online followings into long-lasting media and consumer companies.Dude Perfect, the five-person sports and comedy group that started with a popular YouTube channel, on Tuesday announced an investment from private equity firm Highmount Capital. A... As creators’ popularity has grown, some of the biggest are now raising capital to transform their...

General Atlantic co president Anton Levy. Photo by Nicole Pereira

Private Capital Conference

Say Goodbye to Tiny IPOs, Investors Warn

By Michael Roddan, Theo Wayt and Meredith Mazzilli · Apr 9, 2024 1:09pm PDT · 7 comments

Some of the world’s biggest tech investors have a reality check for companies thinking about going public: While the initial public offering market is showing signs of life, smaller companies that made the cut during the last boom cycle don’t have a shot now. “There were a lot of companies that went public in the last cycle... Some of the world’s biggest tech investors have a reality check for companies thinking...

Philippe Laffont of Coatue talking with Jessica Lessin on Tuesday. Photo by Nicole Pereira.

Private Capital Conference

Coatue’s Laffont Says U.S. and China Need to Provide Clarity on TikTok

By Becky Peterson and Martin Peers · Apr 9, 2024 10:48am PDT

Two big shareholders in ByteDance made their first public comments on the political challenges facing that company’s subsidiary TikTok on Tuesday. Coatue Chief Investment Officer Philippe Laffont, a board member of TikTok parent ByteDance, said the U.S. and China need to “give clarity” about the future of TikTok. Meanwhile,... Two big shareholders in ByteDance made their first public comments on the political challenges...

Tome Co-Founder and CEO Keith Peiris. Photo by Getty.

The AI Presentation Startup Losing Its Rose-Colored Glasses; Musk’s GPU Dreams

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 9, 2024 7:00am PDT

Tome Co-Founder and CEO Keith Peiris. Photo by Getty.

The AI Presentation Startup Losing Its Rose-Colored Glasses; Musk’s GPU Dreams

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 9, 2024 7:00am PDT

Being a startup founder is hard enough. Add to that the unique obstacles facing the generative AI sector—disappointed buyers, slow revenue growth and the high costs of conversational AI—and many AI founders are realizing that it’s not necessarily the land of free-flowing capital and Nvidia chips.Take Tome, the Bay Area startup, which uses AI to... Being a startup founder is hard enough. Add to that the unique obstacles facing the generative AI...