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

Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic. Photo by Kimberly White via Getty.

Can AI Save Crypto Investors?

By Kate Clark · Oct 5, 2023 11:46am PDT · 1 comment

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried is officially underway and the spotlight is back on the bankrupt crypto exchange he founded. Recall that FTX launched a $2 billion venture fund early last year and bought stakes in some of the top crypto companies. When FTX imploded late last year, its decision to play venture capitalist seemed like an... The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried is officially underway and the spotlight is back on the bankrupt...

A prototype of an autonomous vehicle by Glydways at its testing facility in Concord, Calif. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty

Robotaxi Startup Glydways Raises $56 Million, East Bay Project Advances

By Nick Wingfield · Oct 5, 2023 9:41am PDT · 4 comments

A startup seeking to bring robotaxis to dedicated roads surrounding airports and transit hubs is inching closer to realizing its vision. The startup, Glydways, has raised a $56 million Series B fundraising round, including about half of it from convertible debt that the notes holders are converting to equity. New Science Ventures led the round,... A startup seeking to bring robotaxis to dedicated roads surrounding airports and transit hubs is...

Photo by Shutterstock.

Why Do We Need an OpenAI of Europe?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 5, 2023 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

As large-language model developers such as OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Google battle for global supremacy, European LLM providers are trying to carve off that region for themselves. That’s a bad idea.Let’s back up. A number of European Union members have poured resources into promising AI startups. In last Wednesday’s release of Mistral 7B, an... As large-language model developers such as OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Google battle for global...

The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station outside of Berwick, Penn. Photo via Jakec/Wikimedia.

Cloud Providers Eye Nuclear Power as AI Saps Data Centers

By Anissa Gardizy and Maria Heeter · Oct 5, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station outside of Berwick, Penn. Photo via Jakec/Wikimedia.

Cloud Providers Eye Nuclear Power as AI Saps Data Centers

By Anissa Gardizy and Maria Heeter · Oct 5, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

As cloud providers struggle to cope with fast-growing demand for artificial intelligence computing, they may turn to a source of power that has gone largely untapped by the cloud industry: nuclear. What might be the first data center site with direct access to a nuclear power plant, located outside Berwick, Pa., is now on the auction block.... As cloud providers struggle to cope with fast-growing demand for artificial intelligence...

Enovix CEO Raj Talluri. Photo: Courtesy Enovix

The Electric: Enovix Lays Off 185 Employees and Shifts Most of Its Operations to Malaysia

By Steve LeVine · Oct 5, 2023 4:30am PDT

Silicon battery developer Enovix this week laid off 185 engineers and other staff at its Fremont, Calif., factory as it shifted the bulk of its operations to Asia, close to the smartphone manufacturers that it hopes will buy its cells.The moves, announced Tuesday, reflect a reality in the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery industry, which is... Silicon battery developer Enovix this week laid off 185 engineers and other staff at its Fremont,...

Elon Musk. Photo via Shutterstock.

Musk’s Counterproductive Moves

By Martin Peers · Oct 4, 2023 5:01pm PDT · 2 comments

What a time to be a tech business reporter! Even as Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial gets underway, our scoop yesterday about AI startup Anthropic’s rising valuation suggests that the disgraced FTX founder may have scored at least one home run with his Anthropic investment. Yes, that’s right: The fast-evolving story about AI startups has... What a time to be a tech business reporter! Even as Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial gets...

Daniel Roth, LinkedIn editor in chief. Photo: LinkedIn

Creator Economy

What LinkedIn’s OpenAI-Powered Assistant Got Right (and Wrong)

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 4, 2023 2:14pm PDT

Last week, I was scrolling on LinkedIn when I noticed a new AI-powered assistant the professional social network is testing. The bot reviewed the part of my profile where I list my title and the “about” section, and drafted personalized suggestions “using insights from millions of profiles,” for me to review. It was the first time I had... Last week, I was scrolling on LinkedIn when I noticed a new AI-powered assistant the professional...

Golan. Photo: Courtesy Gil Golan

Exclusive from The Electric: GM’s New CTO Exits After One Month In the Job

By Steve LeVine · Oct 4, 2023 12:15pm PDT · 2 comments

Golan. Photo: Courtesy Gil Golan

Exclusive from The Electric: GM’s New CTO Exits After One Month In the Job

By Steve LeVine · Oct 4, 2023 12:15pm PDT · 2 comments

General Motors’ chief technology officer, Gil Golan, is leaving the job after one month, according to an internal company memo distributed today, parts of which were seen by The Electric. Golan’s departure, effective Nov. 1, comes one week after a profile in The Electric in which he described a plan to aggressively expand the company’s work in... General Motors’ chief technology officer, Gil Golan, is leaving the job after one month,...

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research

SBF’s ‘Good Faith’ Defense

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 4, 2023 12:09pm PDT

Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial kicked off in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday with jury selection, followed by opening statements from both the prosecution and the defense earlier today. I went down to check out the action in person on Wednesday, where we got the first in depth look at how Bankman-Fried and his lawyers will defend the... Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial kicked off in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday with jury...

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X. Photo via Getty.

Inside Elon Musk’s Plans for X: Shopping and Sports

By Erin Woo and Sahil Patel · Oct 4, 2023 10:09am PDT

To turn around X, the company formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino are betting on shopping and sports. As Musk and Yaccarino try and turn the company around, there are growing signs they want to make X a shopping destination. For instance, X managers are considering ways of using direct messages on the platform to... To turn around X, the company formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino are...

Anthropic cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty.

Anthropic Makes OpenAI Look Cheap

By Amir Efrati · Oct 4, 2023 7:20am PDT

How much should a well-regarded artificial intelligence startup be worth on paper?That’s the question facing scores of sovereign wealth funds, mutual fund firms and other private equity investors looking at two marquee AI opportunities: OpenAI and Anthropic. OpenAI is in the middle of its second employee share sale in the last six months, and if... How much should a well-regarded artificial intelligence startup be worth on paper?That’s the...

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. Photo via Getty.

Flexport Exits Mount as CEO Ryan Petersen Overhauls Tech, Legal and Sales Teams

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Oct 4, 2023 6:41am PDT

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. Photo via Getty.

Flexport Exits Mount as CEO Ryan Petersen Overhauls Tech, Legal and Sales Teams

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Oct 4, 2023 6:41am PDT

Ryan Petersen’s clearout of Flexport’s top management is continuing. The company’s top engineering executive and longtime chief legal officer both departed the company this week, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Information. The logistics startup’s Asia sales head has also left the company, the memo said. The... Ryan Petersen’s clearout of Flexport’s top management is continuing. The...

Art via Shutterstock/Shane Burke.

Fintech Lenders Spiral as Risky Borrowers Struggle

By Mark Matousek · Oct 4, 2023 6:01am PDT

The end of an era of historically low interest rates has been a boon for big banks, which can now earn more from the loans they make. But for financial tech startups that sought to challenge traditional lenders, steeper borrowing costs have provoked a reckoning, forcing some to hike fees and cut off their riskiest customers. Upstart, which... The end of an era of historically low interest rates has been a boon for big banks, which can now...

Photo via Shutterstock

Streaming Services Should Beware Becoming Like Cable Companies

By Nick Wingfield · Oct 3, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

About a month ago, I finally reached my breaking point with YouTube TV, the streaming service I had subscribed to years earlier as a replacement for cable TV. I didn’t think twice about paying $40 a month for it in 2018, but after years of price increases—YouTube TV now costs $73 a month—I realized my family wasn’t watching it nearly enough to... About a month ago, I finally reached my breaking point with YouTube TV, the streaming service I...

Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic. Photo via Getty.

Anthropic in Talks to Raise $2 Billion From Google and Others Just Days After Amazon Investment

By Kate Clark, Anissa Gardizy and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 3, 2023 3:17pm PDT · 4 comments

Anthropic, one of the main rivals of OpenAI, is in talks with investors to raise at least $2 billion in new funding, following a commitment from Amazon last week to invest $1.25 billion in the company, according to three people with direct knowledge. Anthropic has told investors that Google, which bought a roughly 10% stake in the startup in... Anthropic, one of the main rivals of OpenAI, is in talks with investors to raise at least $2...

"Extremely Online" author Taylor Lorenz. Photo by Brian Treitler

Mommy Bloggers, the Original Creators; a Threads Revival

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 3, 2023 2:44pm PDT

"Extremely Online" author Taylor Lorenz. Photo by Brian Treitler

Creator Economy

Mommy Bloggers, the Original Creators; a Threads Revival

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 3, 2023 2:44pm PDT

How is Instagram going to resuscitate Threads? By focusing on Black creators and finding the sweet spot between hard news and pop culture. That’s what my colleague Sylvia reported in her article Monday about what's going on inside Instagram as it tries to breathe new life into the app, a rival to X (formerly known as Twitter). The jury’s still... How is Instagram going to resuscitate Threads? By focusing on Black creators and finding the...

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Photo by Drew Angerer via Getty.

Microsoft CEO Says AI ‘Vicious Cycle’ Will Boost Google; Meta and OpenAI’s Other Rivalry

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 3, 2023 7:40am PDT

CEOs often speak from both sides of their mouth, depending on who their audience is. On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella painted a scary picture of how Google could multiply its power in the age of artificial intelligence. His doom and gloom comments, made before a federal judge in Washington, contrasted with an upbeat Nadella from February... CEOs often speak from both sides of their mouth, depending on who their audience is. On Monday, ...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Getty

Nvidia Deepens Push Into AWS’ Turf

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 3, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Nvidia’s ambition to compete with Amazon Web Services is growing. Nvidia is best known for designing server chips for artificial intelligence, but it has been running a nascent cloud service for corporate customers that develop AI with those chips. Nvidia operates the service, DGX Cloud, with servers located in the data centers of... Nvidia’s ambition to compete with Amazon Web Services is growing. Nvidia is best known for...

Photo via Nasdaq

DoorDash Should Buy Instacart Now

By Martin Peers · Oct 2, 2023 5:01pm PDT · 2 comments

Instacart’s stock price performance so far brings to mind a variation on the old line about love: Is it better to have gone public and lost, or never to have gone public at all? The shares fell 9% on Monday to $26.96, 10% below its IPO price, following our scoop that the Wall Street analysts at the banks underwriting the offering are projecting... Instacart’s stock price performance so far brings to mind a variation on the old line about love:...

ByteDance's Singapore offices. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

TikTok’s Owner Generated Nearly $7 Billion in Cash From Operations in First Quarter

By Amir Efrati · Oct 2, 2023 3:16pm PDT

ByteDance's Singapore offices. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

TikTok’s Owner Generated Nearly $7 Billion in Cash From Operations in First Quarter

By Amir Efrati · Oct 2, 2023 3:16pm PDT

The cash machine of TikTok’s owner is getting bigger. ByteDance’s revenue rose 34% to $24.5 billion in the first quarter of 2023, a slight slowdown from its 38% revenue growth in the 2022 calendar year, according to detailed financial results viewed by The Information. But the company generated $6.8 billion in cash from operations in... The cash machine of TikTok’s owner is getting bigger. ByteDance’s revenue rose 34% to...