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

Art by Clark Miller

Working at AI Speed Without Going Crazy

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 27, 2025 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Mira Murati’s enigma machine • Artificial Intelligence: Nvidia’s AI stimulus plan• Plus, our Recommendations: “Desk Set,” “Mission Accomplished” and “It’s Only Drowning”When you’ve worked in an industry for a while, you learn its rhythm. For... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: ...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

Artificial Intelligence

How Jensen Huang is Using Nvidia Cash to Rule the AI Economy

By Anissa Gardizy, Nick Wingfield, Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · Sep 27, 2025 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

Even by the standards of one of the most prodigious dealmakers in tech, the past month or so has been a head-spinning one for Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. Just in September, Nvidia agreed to buy any unused Nvidia graphics processing units that cloud provider CoreWeave doesn’t sell to other customers over the next seven years, a deal potentially... Even by the standards of one of the most prodigious dealmakers in tech, the past month or so has...

Silver Lake's Egon Durban. Photo via Getty

Silver Lake’s Big Week

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 26, 2025 5:00pm PDT

This week’s biggest business headlines should convince you: One of the most interesting non-founders in tech or finance is Silver Lake’s Egon Durban.First, the under-the-radar tech investor squeezed into the middle of the Trump administration’s deal to split TikTok from its Chinese parent company, and at a seemingly bargain-basement price.... This week’s biggest business headlines should convince you: One of the most interesting...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Ex-OpenAI Trio in Funding Talks at $500 Million Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 26, 2025 2:34pm PDT

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Ex-OpenAI Trio in Funding Talks at $500 Million Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 26, 2025 2:34pm PDT

As artificial intelligence developers increasingly rely on reinforcement learning to improve their models, investors are funding startups that focus on helping businesses utilize the technique to automate more tasks. In the latest example, Applied Compute, founded in May by three former OpenAI staffers, is in talks to raise new funding at a $500... As artificial intelligence developers increasingly rely on reinforcement learning to improve...

Art by Clark Miller

Google’s Ad Tech Defense: The Web Is in Decline

By Catherine Perloff · Sep 26, 2025 11:26am PDT

The rise of artificial intelligence services saved Google from a breakup in its search antitrust case earlier this month. Google’s lawyers seem to be hoping AI might do the same for the second antitrust case the company faces, related to its ad tech business. In April, a Virginia judge found Google had a monopoly in the portion of its ad tech... The rise of artificial intelligence services saved Google from a breakup in its search antitrust...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

The $10 Billion Enigma of Mira Murati

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 26, 2025 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

This summer, Meta Platforms offered multiple researchers at artificial intelligence startup Thinking Machines Lab sizable compensation packages to join its new AI lab. When all of the researchers declined the offers, Thinking Machines CEO Mira Murati sent a flattering news report about Meta’s attempted raid to her staff over Slack. At the same... This summer, Meta Platforms offered multiple researchers at artificial intelligence startup...

Human Interest CEO Jeff Schneble. Image courtesy of YouTube. Art by Clark Miller.

Retirement startup Human Interest in Talks for Fundraising at $3 Billion Valuation

By Katie Roof · Sep 25, 2025 8:42pm PDT

Human Interest, a startup that manages employer retirement accounts, is in talks with investors to raise about $200 million at a valuation of close to $3 billion, more than doubling its valuation from a fundraising a year ago, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fundraising. The decade-old startup provides employers with 401(K)... Human Interest, a startup that manages employer retirement accounts, is in talks with investors...

Vice President J.D. Vance, left, and President Donald Trump. Photo via Getty

TikTok’s Fire Sale

By Martin Peers · Sep 25, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Vice President J.D. Vance, left, and President Donald Trump. Photo via Getty

TikTok’s Fire Sale

By Martin Peers · Sep 25, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Talk about a fire-sale price. That’s the only way to describe the $14 billion valuation we learned today is being put on TikTok U.S. in the Trump administration–orchestrated sale of the app. Given what we’ve reported about TikTok parent ByteDance’s revenues, and our guesstimate about how much came from TikTok, the valuation may be less than one... Talk about a fire-sale price. That’s the only way to describe the $14 billion valuation we...

Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Photo via Getty

All-Male AI Boards; General Catalyst’s AI Head Count Savings

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 25, 2025 2:04pm PDT

The topic of whether startup boards have enough women on them has been muted lately. Not only has President Donald Trump’s administration targeted diversity mandates, but federal courts have overturned related laws, such as those passed in California requiring a certain number of women and underrepresented minorities on public company... The topic of whether startup boards have enough women on them has been muted lately. Not only has...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo via Getty

Meta in Talks With Google to Use Gemini to Improve Ad Efforts

By Erin Woo · Sep 25, 2025 1:32pm PDT · 1 comment

Meta Platforms staffers have had discussions with Google Cloud about the possibility of using Google’s artificial intelligence models to improve Meta’s ad business, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. The discussions are the latest sign of how Meta’s stumbles with its own AI have prompted it to consider using other companies... Meta Platforms staffers have had discussions with Google Cloud about the possibility of using...

Josh Klahr, a product management leader at Snowflake. Art by Clark Miller; YouTube.

Snowflake Tries to End the AI Data-Access Wars

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 25, 2025 10:44am PDT

Snowflake is reversing an incendiary trend of software incumbents such as Salesforce and Atlassian walling off data in their applications from artificial intelligence startups that threaten them.On Tuesday, Snowflake said a consortium of more than a dozen other enterprise app and database providers—including, ironically, Salesforce—have... Snowflake is reversing an incendiary trend of software incumbents such as Salesforce and...

Art via Mike Sullivan

More AI Startups Join the $100 Million ARR Club. But Will They Stay?

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 25, 2025 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Art via Mike Sullivan

More AI Startups Join the $100 Million ARR Club. But Will They Stay?

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 25, 2025 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

These days, it seems like each week another artificial intelligence startup announces it’s surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue, a milestone that historically meant a startup had achieved “product-market fit”—in other words, customers really want to pay for its products.In the last five months, our reporting shows that at least six “AI... These days, it seems like each week another artificial intelligence startup announces it’s...

Photos courtesy of the subjects

The Investment Bankers Winning at the AI Deal Game

By Valida Pau · Sep 25, 2025 6:00am PDT

There’s nothing like an earth-changing new technology to get the tech industry’s dealmaking juices flowing. That’s been good news and bad news for bankers, who have pocketed fees but have been boxed out of some of the biggest deals. We’ve pulled together a list of the bankers who have led the way on artificial intelligence dealmaking. The... There’s nothing like an earth-changing new technology to get the tech industry’s dealmaking...

The Thacker Pass lithium deposit in Nevada. Photo: Courtesy Lithium Americas

Exclusive From The Electric: The Trump Administration Is Seeking Stakes in More Critical Minerals Companies

By Steve LeVine · Sep 25, 2025 4:30am PDT

President Donald Trump’s administration is in talks to take stakes in multiple critical minerals companies, according to industry consultants, solidifying a playbook where government support comes in exchange for payments or equity. President Donald Trump’s administration is in talks to take stakes in multiple critical minerals...

Jessica Chastain. Photo via Getty

Apple’s Missing Savant

By Martin Peers · Sep 24, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

If you’ve ever wondered why Apple has never bought a TV giant like Warner Bros. Discovery, just look at the minidrama over its upcoming Apple TV+ thriller “The Savant.” Apple this week delayed release of the show, about a “top-secret undercover investigator known as the Savant, who infiltrates online hate groups to take down the most violent... If you’ve ever wondered why Apple has never bought a TV giant like Warner Bros. Discovery, just...

Art by Clark Miller.

Who Will Build the First True AI Device?

By The Information Staff · Sep 24, 2025 9:46am PDT

Art by Clark Miller.

Who Will Build the First True AI Device?

By The Information Staff · Sep 24, 2025 9:46am PDT

The race to develop personal AI devices is in full swing. Meta’s announcement of a new line of smart glasses with a built-in AI assistant is the latest example of tech giants and ambitious startups trying to transform AI into the next personal device after the smartphone. We asked Deep Research to create a comprehensive report on the topic. The race to develop personal AI devices is in full swing. Meta’s announcement of a new line of...

Art by Clark Miller

Special Report Series

Why It Pays to Hack OpenAI and Anthropic Models

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 24, 2025 9:15am PDT

When Dan Lahav was in grade school, he became obsessed with the short stories of Isaac Asimov, where robots gain sentience and trick humans into relinquishing control of society. Today he spends his time prodding artificial intelligence to do just that. Lahav is CEO of Irregular, a two-year-old startup that specializes in testing AI models’... When Dan Lahav was in grade school, he became obsessed with the short stories of Isaac Asimov,...

Photo courtesy of Scale

Inside Scale AI’s New Robot Labs

By Rocket Drew · Sep 24, 2025 7:00am PDT

After Meta Platforms bought nearly half of the data labelling startup Scale AI and hired its co-founder Alexandr Wang and other key employees, Scale’s future looked uncertain. Even more so after the nine-year old startup laid off 200 employees and customer OpenAI wound down its work with the company.Now, we’re getting a sense of how Scale’s... After Meta Platforms bought nearly half of the data labelling startup Scale AI and hired its...

Art via Mike Sullivan

U.S. Loses Appeal for Chinese AI Researchers

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Sep 24, 2025 6:00am PDT

The U.S. artificial intelligence sector is so crowded with Chinese researchers that some joke the global AI race is between two groups of Chinese—those in the U.S. and those in China. That joke may soon feel a bit stale. A growing number of Chinese AI researchers and doctorate students in the U.S. are seriously considering moving back to... The U.S. artificial intelligence sector is so crowded with Chinese researchers that some joke the...

Sam Altman. Photo via Getty

Can We Afford AI?

By Martin Peers · Sep 23, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Sam Altman. Photo via Getty

Can We Afford AI?

By Martin Peers · Sep 23, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Hey, ChatGPT, can you explain this artificial intelligence disconnect? In a blog post today, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “Growth in the use of AI services has been astonishing.” Meanwhile, countless news reports cite businesses who say they’ve yet to see enough benefit in AI to pay for it. We reported last week, for instance, that Microsoft was... Hey, ChatGPT, can you explain this artificial intelligence disconnect? In a blog post today,...