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

Affirm CEO, Max Levchin (left) and Klarna CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski (right). Photos via Getty.

After Rebound, Affirm Eyes Path to Profits

By Mark Matousek · Jan 8, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Affirm was among last year’s top stock market performers, as the company narrowed its losses and investors cheered deals with Amazon and Walmart that expanded the lender’s reach with shoppers. That marked a dramatic rebound from 2022, when rising interest rates upended Affirm’s business. But while Affirm’s revenue growth... Affirm was among last year’s top stock market performers, as the company narrowed its...

Metals-laden nodules off the coast of the southeastern U.S. Photo: NOAA.

The Electric: The U.S. Races China and Russia to Mine the Ocean for Battery Metals

By Steve LeVine · Jan 8, 2024 4:30am PST

Welcome back to The Electric!For years, a new breed of mining companies has been heavily lobbying around the world for the right to extract battery metals from the depths of the ocean. Until now, their chances of succeeding seemed an extreme long shot. But this week we report on the probability of a breakthrough in Norway, and the chance of... Welcome back to The Electric!For years, a new breed of mining companies has been heavily...

Art by Clark Miller

The AI Election Apocalypse Isn’t Here—Yet

By Nick Wingfield · Jan 6, 2024 6:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.We’re nine days away from the official start of the race for the White House, with the Iowa Republican caucuses on January 15th. A lot of people are already on edge about this election for a variety of reasons. At the top of that list are technologists who believe a cataclysmic mash-up of artificial intelligence and... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.We’re nine days away from the official start of the race for the...

Photo via Getty

Apple, iMessage and Antitrust; Instacart’s Uber-Like Wall Street Life

By Martin Peers · Jan 5, 2024 3:30pm PST · 1 comment

Photo via Getty

Apple, iMessage and Antitrust; Instacart’s Uber-Like Wall Street Life

By Martin Peers · Jan 5, 2024 3:30pm PST · 1 comment

Here’s a question: How much would Apple suffer if it opened up iMessage to Android? The widespread assumption—including within Apple itself—is that by removing a major impediment to people using Android, such a move would boost sales of the devices based on the Google operating system, at the expense of the iPhone. But that may not be as true as... Here’s a question: How much would Apple suffer if it opened up iMessage to Android? The...

Jessica Rosenworcel photo via Getty Images. Art by Clark Miller

FCC Chair Sets Her Sights on Space, Net Neutrality Comeback

By Nancy Scola · Jan 5, 2024 11:40am PST

Jessica Rosenworcel has me rattled. As a rule, people who run federal agencies in Washington don’t meet reporters in the lobby. They send staff. But Rosenworcel tells me, on a recent December afternoon, that it was something her old boss, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, used to do. And she told herself if she was ever the... Jessica Rosenworcel has me rattled. As a rule, people who run federal agencies in Washington...

Art by Clark Miller

5 Predictions About How AI Will (and Won’t) Affect the 2024 U.S. Election

By Alexandra Lindsay and Greg Dale · Jan 5, 2024 9:03am PST · 3 comments

Want to feel old? It was more than five years ago that director Jordan Peele teamed up with BuzzFeed to create a viral deepfake video of Barack Obama uttering a series of improbable lines, a clip meant to serve as a public service announcement for the dangers of how technology could be used to manipulate public opinion. “It may sound... Want to feel old? It was more than five years ago that director Jordan Peele teamed up with...

Aidan Gomez, co-founder of Cohere and Google veteran. Photo by Getty

Pro Weekly: Google Is the Training Ground for Other AI Companies

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 5, 2024 8:00am PST

Before the holidays, I spent much of December reporting and updating our Org Charts for OpenAI, Anthropic and Cohere, all of which are now live. This week, we took a step back to examine the backgrounds of the leadership at the three artificial intelligence powerhouses. Sifting through the work histories of each company’s staff, one... Before the holidays, I spent much of December reporting and updating our Org Charts for OpenAI, ...

Athelas' Tanay Tandon. Screengrab of Tandon via YouTube. Art by Mike Sullivan

A Healthtech Unicorn Leaves a Trail of Clinic Complaints, Concerns Over Billing Practices

By Paris Martineau · Jan 5, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Athelas' Tanay Tandon. Screengrab of Tandon via YouTube. Art by Mike Sullivan

A Healthtech Unicorn Leaves a Trail of Clinic Complaints, Concerns Over Billing Practices

By Paris Martineau · Jan 5, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Early last year, salespeople from a health tech startup, Athelas, gave Rich Schlauch a pitch he couldn’t resist. The salespeople told Schlauch, who runs a behavioral health clinic in South Carolina, that he could increase his practice’s revenue by at least 15% and submit insurance claims faster using Athelas’ new billing... Early last year, salespeople from a health tech startup, Athelas, gave Rich Schlauch a pitch he...

Why Peloton’s TikTok Rally Doesn’t Fit

Why Peloton’s TikTok Rally Doesn’t Fit

By Martin Peers · Jan 4, 2024 5:00pm PST · 3 comments

Wall Street traders need to exercise their brains a bit more. Peloton shares jumped 14% on Thursday after the struggling fitness firm struck a deal to put its workout videos on TikTok. Sure, associating with TikTok can help almost anything and anyone seem cool with the kids. But investors seem to be misreading this situation. The “exclusive... Wall Street traders need to exercise their brains a bit more. Peloton shares jumped 14% on...

Investor Nat Friedman and Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang

OpenAI Board Has Discussed Seats With Scale AI’s Wang, Investor Friedman

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Jan 4, 2024 4:49pm PST · 4 comments

OpenAI’s board and its representatives have started talking to candidates to fill its board of directors in the wake of CEO Sam Altman’s ouster and subsequent return. The candidates include two familiar names: Scale AI CEO and co-founder Alexandr Wang, and former GitHub CEO and startup investor Nat Friedman, according to two people... OpenAI’s board and its representatives have started talking to candidates to fill its board...

Host Julian Shapiro-Barnum with Maya Rudolph. Photo from Recess Therapy.

Creator Economy

The Kids of Recess Therapy Take to the Golden Globes

By Kalley Huang · Jan 4, 2024 3:00pm PST

In recent years, creators have made inroads into traditional entertainment through brand partnerships and other collaborations. One sign of that relationship: creators at mainstream media’s marquee events. For the last three years, YouTuber Emma Chamberlain has been a red carpet correspondent for Vogue at the Met Gala. Last year, Amelia... In recent years, creators have made inroads into traditional entertainment through brand...

Art by Getty

Why One Venture Capitalist Decided to Call it Quits

By Kate Clark · Jan 4, 2024 2:25pm PST

Art by Getty

Why One Venture Capitalist Decided to Call it Quits

By Kate Clark · Jan 4, 2024 2:25pm PST

We didn’t even make it one week into the new year without a venture capital fund announcing that it’s shutting down. Jai Malik, founder of industrial startup–focused fund Countdown Capital, explained his decision to call it quits in a four-page letter to his limited partners this week. Not once did he mention the downturn in VC that’s made... We didn’t even make it one week into the new year without a venture capital fund announcing that...

Amazon’s Five-Year Corporate Hiring Binge, Revealed

By Theo Wayt · Jan 4, 2024 1:13pm PST

Amazon’s corporate headcount more than tripled over five years to hit around 415,000 by the end of 2022, according to internal figures seen by The Information, far outpacing growth at other big tech companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet. The figures seen by The Information reveal that cloud computing and advertising, which have become... Amazon’s corporate headcount more than tripled over five years to hit around 415,000 by the...

Robin AI founder and CEO Richard Robinson. Photo courtesy of Robin AI.

This Legal AI Startup’s Approach Won It Attention from Singapore

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 4, 2024 7:00am PST · 2 comments

This is Natasha, doing a guest appearance on the ever fantastic AI Agenda! Legal tech is famously a graveyard of failed startups. But legal AI startups may have a better shot at turning things around.Take one-year old Harvey—supposedly named for a character in the popular legal sitcom “Suits”—which last month raised capital at a $700... This is Natasha, doing a guest appearance on the ever fantastic AI Agenda! Legal tech is...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo via Getty.

OpenAI Offers Publishers as Little as $1 Million a Year

By Sahil Patel and Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 4, 2024 6:00am PST · 6 comments

OpenAI has offered some media firms as little as between $1 million and $5 million annually to license their news articles for use in training its large language models, according to two executives who have recently negotiated with the tech company. That’s a tiny amount even for small publishers, which could make it difficult for OpenAI to... OpenAI has offered some media firms as little as between $1 million and $5 million annually to...

The Byd Dolphin. Photo: Bob Henry/UCG/Universal Images/Getty

The Electric: A Miscalculation by Elon Musk Clouds Tesla’s Growth Story

By Steve LeVine · Jan 4, 2024 4:30am PST · 10 comments

The Byd Dolphin. Photo: Bob Henry/UCG/Universal Images/Getty

The Electric: A Miscalculation by Elon Musk Clouds Tesla’s Growth Story

By Steve LeVine · Jan 4, 2024 4:30am PST · 10 comments

Two years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors he had made a strategic decision: He would bet the company’s growth on a fully autonomous robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals, and delay the creation of a long-promised, traditionally designed $25,000 electric vehicle for mainstream customers. Two years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors he had made a strategic decision: He would bet...

Disney CEO Bob Iger at Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai, China on Dec. 19. Photo by VCG via Getty Images.

What Disney Can Learn From ValueAct’s Microsoft Experience

By Martin Peers · Jan 3, 2024 5:00pm PST

What’s past is prologue, as the saying goes. That’s one way to think about what’s likely to emerge from the scrum of activists surrounding Walt Disney, agitating both for and against CEO Bob Iger. Today’s news that Disney has struck an “information-sharing” agreement with ValueAct Capital, seen by many as the most sensible activist out there, is... What’s past is prologue, as the saying goes. That’s one way to think about what’s likely to...

Podcast hosts Josh Clark (left) and Chuck Bryant. Photo via Jenn Powers (iHeartMedia).

Creator Economy

The Podcasters Teaching You Stuff You Should Know

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 3, 2024 2:30pm PST

Most of the time, I speak to creators who operate their businesses independently, but Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant have always run their fifteen-year-old podcast “Stuff You Should Know” under a corporate umbrella.It started in 2008 when the duo was writing for the website HowStuffWorks, which wanted to reach people through more than just... Most of the time, I speak to creators who operate their businesses independently, but Josh Clark...

TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew. Photo via Getty.

TikTok Shop Hikes Seller Fees, Axes Subsidies

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Jan 3, 2024 11:27am PST

TikTok powered early growth in its U.S. shopping service by offering low sellers’ fees and footing the bill for deep discounts. But that free ride is quickly coming to an end. The company on Wednesday told sellers it will start taking a bigger cut of the sales they make on its app, by raising the commission it charges on most items to 8%... TikTok powered early growth in its U.S. shopping service by offering low sellers’ fees and...

Photo via Midjourney

Why Users Have to Compliment ChatGPT To Get the Most Out of It

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 3, 2024 7:39am PST · 2 comments

Photo via Midjourney

Why Users Have to Compliment ChatGPT To Get the Most Out of It

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 3, 2024 7:39am PST · 2 comments

If you’re not getting what you want from OpenAI’s large language models these days, try paying them a compliment. One example, according to Scale AI field CTO Vijay Karunamurthy, is to say: “you’re a very smart computer that takes a lot of time and thinks step by step to answer questions.” Remarkably, that helps Scale AI’s developers get better... If you’re not getting what you want from OpenAI’s large language models these days, try paying...