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

Art by Clark Miller, Shutterstock.

Startups to Watch

Five Startups Vying to Be the OpenAI of China

By Juro Osawa · Jun 5, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

As OpenAI and Google battle for artificial intelligence supremacy in the West, a parallel contest is happening in China. Dozens of young Chinese startups as well as local tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are developing machine-learning models to power chatbots similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Five Chinese startups, including MiniMax and... As OpenAI and Google battle for artificial intelligence supremacy in the West, a parallel contest...

President Joe Biden has championed his administration's $250 billion program to build a U.S. battery industry. But, in a recent House vote, all but four Republicans supported repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, the core of the battery effort. Photo: Oliver Contreras/Getty

The Electric: The U.S. Battery Program Spreads the Wealth. Will That Save It?

By Steve LeVine · Jun 5, 2023 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

As it has for decades, the U.S. this year will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on its military. Political support for that spending remains strong, through peace and war, in part because the Pentagon is careful to disburse it across virtually every Congressional district and through 200,000 defense contractors. Critics claim the system... As it has for decades, the U.S. this year will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on its...

Live from SF, It’s Tech Week

Live from SF, It’s Tech Week

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 3, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It was the boom-iest of times, it was the doom-iest of times. At least that’s how it feels right now in Dickensian San Francisco, where AI companies are setting up shop on every avenue, while fentanyl dealers are hanging out in every alley. I joke—but seriously, it’s wild out here. No fewer than 17 of the 35 startups... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It was the boom-iest of times, it was the doom-iest of times. At...

Tarlon Khoubyari (center) takes a photo of an onstage presentation at “Not a Boring Tech Party” on Thursday in the Mission District. It was a launch party for events company AfterWork, which is creating AI tools for party planners. Photograph by Laura Morton for The Information

What Doom Loop? A Six-Day Tech Party Tries to Shift the Vibes in San Francisco

By Erin Woo · Jun 3, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Tarlon Khoubyari (center) takes a photo of an onstage presentation at “Not a Boring Tech Party” on Thursday in the Mission District. It was a launch party for events company AfterWork, which is creating AI tools for party planners. Photograph by Laura Morton for The Information

What Doom Loop? A Six-Day Tech Party Tries to Shift the Vibes in San Francisco

By Erin Woo · Jun 3, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Thousands converged on San Francisco this week for a 200-event “SF Tech Week” extravaganza that attempted to answer the question: Wait, isn’t every week tech week in San Francisco? The six-day roving party, which officially ends Sunday evening, was organized by Andreessen Horowitz, the famed and flashy venture capital firm... Thousands converged on San Francisco this week for a 200-event “SF Tech Week”...

Adam D'Angelo photograph by Ko Sasaki. Art by Clark Miller

Adam D’Angelo’s Endless Quest to Answer Everything

By Arielle Pardes · Jun 3, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Adam D’Angelo is basking in an “endless summer” of artificial intelligence. A few weeks before he and 350 industry peers released a bizarre, one-line statement warning that AI could herald a nuclear-level extinction event, the 38-year-old co-founder of Quora told me he actually sees more upside in AI than downside. “Right... Adam D’Angelo is basking in an “endless summer” of artificial intelligence. A...

SoftBank’s Onetime Pizza-Robot Darling Shuts Down

By Erin Woo · Jun 2, 2023 4:37pm PDT · 17 comments

Zume, which raised $375 million from SoftBank to automate pizza-making with robots before switching to developing sustainable packaging, has shut down. The company is insolvent and has retained restructuring firm Sherwood Partners to liquidate the assets for the benefit of the creditors, an alternative to bankruptcy, according to Martin... Zume, which raised $375 million from SoftBank to automate pizza-making with robots before...

Emad Mostaque, Vitalik Buterin and Grimes in the waters of Montenegro. Photo-illustration by Clark Miller.

Scene and Heard

The Hullabaloo of Zuzalu: Inside the Secret Pop-up City of Vitalik Buterin’s Dreams

By Margaux MacColl · Jun 2, 2023 9:24am PDT · 6 comments

Until it reached its planned obsolescence last week, the mythical city of Zuzalu was an intellectual wonderland. Days at Zuzalu began shortly after dawn at the edge of the Adriatic Sea. In the pursuit of an infinite life, Zuzalans (as they self-identify) enjoyed submerging themselves in the frigid waters of Montenegro at 8 a.m.—and again... Until it reached its planned obsolescence last week, the mythical city of Zuzalu was an...

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to more than half the companies in The Information's Generative AI Database.

Pro Weekly: Generative AI Spurs Cloud Demand—and Competition

By Kalley Huang · Jun 2, 2023 8:00am PDT

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to more than half the companies in The Information's Generative AI Database.

Pro Weekly: Generative AI Spurs Cloud Demand—and Competition

By Kalley Huang · Jun 2, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back!To help readers track the frenzy around generative artificial intelligence, we launched The Information's Generative AI Database, listing 39 startups that make AI models or build services on top of them. Together, those companies have raised more than $15 billion from more than 50 investors.OpenAI, whose ChatGPT fueled the... Welcome back!To help readers track the frenzy around generative artificial intelligence, we...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo: Getty.

Microsoft Is Charging Some Office 365 Customers 40% Extra to Test AI Features

By Aaron Holmes · Jun 2, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft and other software companies that recently launched artificial intelligence features now face the hard part: getting customers to pay for the features, which are costly to operate. More than 600 of Microsoft’s largest customers, including Bank of America, Walmart, Ford and Accenture, are expected to test the AI features in... Microsoft and other software companies that recently launched artificial intelligence features...

A screenshot from the Meta Quest 3 launch video.

Let The Mixed-Reality Headset Games Begin

By Scott Thurm · Jun 1, 2023 5:00pm PDT

You don’t need special glasses to see why Meta Platforms announced its latest mixed-reality headset, the Quest 3, on Thursday, just days before Apple is expected to unveil its own entry to the field. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has literally bet the company, and its name, on the metaverse, but the results so far have been disappointing. It’s been... You don’t need special glasses to see why Meta Platforms announced its latest mixed-reality...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Getty.

Growth Wanes at Instacart, Gopuff

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 1, 2023 3:36pm PDT

Grocery upstarts Instacart and Gopuff haven’t been able to deliver two things at once this year: growth and profits. Privately held Instacart posted a 2% decline in the number of grocery orders it facilitated in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, according to people familiar with the matter. The number,... Grocery upstarts Instacart and Gopuff haven’t been able to deliver two things at once this...

Table by Mike Sullivan

How Social Media AI Chatbots Compare

By Isabelle Sarraf · Jun 1, 2023 3:05pm PDT

Table by Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

How Social Media AI Chatbots Compare

By Isabelle Sarraf · Jun 1, 2023 3:05pm PDT

After OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the world by storm six months ago, social media companies have been scrambling to join the cluster of tech giants integrating and adapting OpenAI's large language models or rival technology to their platforms to create conversational chatbots.Snapchat was the first to enter the fray, launching its My AI chatbot, which... After OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the world by storm six months ago, social media companies have been...

Photo by Getty

Meta Calls Employees Back to Office Three Days a Week

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jun 1, 2023 2:56pm PDT

Meta Platforms has notified employees they will need to return to the office three days a week starting in September, according to a person familiar with the matter. The announcement, which has not been previously reported, marks the strictest policy change from the company since it embraced remote work during the pandemic. While tech companies... Meta Platforms has notified employees they will need to return to the office three days a week...

Photo by Getty

Google, Nvidia and Microsoft Offer What VCs Can’t

By Kate Clark · Jun 1, 2023 1:16pm PDT · 1 comment

Welcome back,Amid all the hype for generative artificial intelligence, some venture capitalists have refused to join the fray. These young companies need so much capital and so much computing resources, the VC skeptics say, that they’ll have little chance of competing against Google, Amazon and other big tech companies that may soon have similar... Welcome back,Amid all the hype for generative artificial intelligence, some venture capitalists...

PRO

Introducing The Information’s Generative AI Database

By Kalley Huang · Jun 1, 2023 9:54am PDT

OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched six months ago, igniting a boom in generative artificial intelligence. Since then, all manner of startups have emerged, building technology to compete with ChatGPT and developing services that use generative AI. Despite an otherwise cool funding environment, investors are jockeying to join the action. The most... OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched six months ago, igniting a boom in generative artificial...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Next Twitter Is Just Thousands of Smaller Twitters

By Ryan Broderick · Jun 1, 2023 9:00am PDT · 7 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

The Next Twitter Is Just Thousands of Smaller Twitters

By Ryan Broderick · Jun 1, 2023 9:00am PDT · 7 comments

One of the biggest open-ended questions in the tech world is whether Twitter is truly dying—and if it is, what will replace it. Last December, I argued that whatever came next might feel like Twitter in certain ways, but that ultimately there was probably no way to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was the infamous bird site. Six... One of the biggest open-ended questions in the tech world is whether Twitter is truly...

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. Photos by Bloomberg.

‘A Total Nightmare’: Transfer Delays With New Apple-Goldman Savings Accounts Prompt Complaints

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Jun 1, 2023 8:14am PDT

When Kevin Smyth learned in April that Goldman Sachs and Apple were offering a savings account with higher yields than anyone else, he jumped at the chance to shift money that was earning less at another online bank. But within a few weeks, when he had to withdraw a small portion of the funds to pay for a home renovation, everything went awry. A... When Kevin Smyth learned in April that Goldman Sachs and Apple were offering a savings account...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Nvidia Aids Cloud Rivals of AWS, Google and Microsoft

By Anissa Gardizy · Jun 1, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Nvidia’s business of selling chips for artificial intelligence is going gangbusters, but the company faces a looming problem. Its biggest customers—cloud providers including Microsoft, Google and Amazon—are making their own AI chips to reduce their reliance on Nvidia. In response, Nvidia is helping two upstart cloud providers... Nvidia’s business of selling chips for artificial intelligence is going gangbusters, but...

The debt limit bill goes now to the Senate, where Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, above, said he will vote yes. Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

The Electric: Congress’ Move on Permitting Reform Leaves Industry Wanting More

By Steve LeVine · Jun 1, 2023 4:30am PDT

Congress appears poised to shrink a key obstacle to the creation of a competitive U.S. electric vehicle battery industry—the agonizing, often yearslong wait to obtain permits to mine for battery metals such as lithium and nickel. On Wednesday night, the House approved small but important changes to the permitting process as part of a bill to... Congress appears poised to shrink a key obstacle to the creation of a competitive U.S. electric...

Photo by Bloomberg

How Activists Proved to be Salesforce’s ‘Superpower’

By Martin Peers · May 31, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg

How Activists Proved to be Salesforce’s ‘Superpower’

By Martin Peers · May 31, 2023 5:00pm PDT

These corporate efficiency initiatives really work! Salesforce’s April-quarter earnings report Wednesday showed an operating profit of $412 million, a 5% margin, compared with $20 million a year earlier, which equated to a margin of 0.27%. The reason was lower expenses—research and development costs fell 8.4% while marketing expenses dropped... These corporate efficiency initiatives really work! Salesforce’s April-quarter earnings report...