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

A man wears a lobster hat that represents OpenClaw at Baidu's headquarters in Beijing. Photo by Adek Berry/ Getty Images)

Nvidia, Startups Race to Make OpenClaw Safer to Use

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 12, 2026 7:00am PDT

Enthusiasm for OpenClaw, the popular open-source software for powering personal AI agents using personal computers, has been tempered by a number of embarrassing security snafus, such as when OpenClaw started mass-deleting emails from Meta alignment director Summer Yue’s inbox.In China, where developers are arguably even more enthusiastic about... Enthusiasm for OpenClaw, the popular open-source software for powering personal AI agents using...

Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss during the company's initial public offering in September. Michael Nagle/Getty Images.

Winklevosses Bet Big on a Crypto Bull Market. They Bet Wrong

By Yueqi Yang and Michael Roddan · Mar 12, 2026 6:00am PDT

Shortly after Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss took their crypto exchange public last fall, they celebrated the company’s expansion in Australia with a swanky party at a greenhouse in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden. The Winklevoss twins appeared via video link before a DJ played for a throng of supporters. “We’re in Australia for good,” James Logan,... Shortly after Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss took their crypto exchange public last fall, they...

Beta Technologies' Alia CCX300. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: Trump Administration Favors Conventional Electric Planes Over Jetson-Age Aircraft

By Steve LeVine · Mar 12, 2026 4:30am PDT

For years, the subject of electric flying taxis conjured up images of sci-fi helicopters that looked like insects, took off and landed vertically, and flew almost silently above traffic-choked city streets. For years, the subject of electric flying taxis conjured up images of sci-fi helicopters that...

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

Anthropic in Talks With Blackstone, Other PE Firms to Form AI Consulting Venture

By Anissa Gardizy, Valida Pau and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 11, 2026 7:05pm PDT · 1 comment

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

Anthropic in Talks With Blackstone, Other PE Firms to Form AI Consulting Venture

By Anissa Gardizy, Valida Pau and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 11, 2026 7:05pm PDT · 1 comment

Anthropic is in talks with a consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman about forming an AI-focused joint venture to sell the Claude maker’s technology to companies funded by the investment firms, according to a person involved in the discussions and another person who was briefed about it. The recent... Anthropic is in talks with a consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone and Hellman...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images.

Nvidia Sprays the Cash; FCC Chair’s SpaceX Defense

By Martin Peers · Mar 11, 2026 5:00pm PDT

If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has plenty of money to spare, particularly if you’re in business with him in some way. Nvidia’s announcement on Wednesday that it was putting $2 billion into Nebius, a European AI data center developer, was the fourth investment in a business partner... If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has...

Artwork by Clark Miller

Anthropic vs. the Pentagon: What’s at Stake for AI Labs

By The Information Staff · Mar 11, 2026 11:49am PDT

The legal battle between Anthropic and the United States Department of Defense is testing the limits of how much control AI companies can retain over the use of their models. The case highlights the trade-offs between ethical guardrails, federal contracts, and talent retention in an industry under growing government scrutiny. We asked Deep... The legal battle between Anthropic and the United States Department of Defense is testing the...

Photo of the Stargate data center in Abilene, Texas by Getty Images. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Microsoft in Talks to Lease Large Texas Data Center Site After Oracle Walked Away

By Anissa Gardizy and Miles Kruppa · Mar 11, 2026 11:36am PDT

Microsoft is in advanced talks to lease hundreds of megawatts of data center capacity at a closely watched artificial intelligence campus in Abilene, Texas, after rival Oracle walked away from the same opportunity, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions and another person briefed about it. Meta Platforms is also in talks... Microsoft is in advanced talks to lease hundreds of megawatts of data center capacity at a...

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/ Getty Images

What the Iran War Means for the Funding of AI

By Ken Brown · Mar 11, 2026 8:00am PDT

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/ Getty Images

The Information Finance

What the Iran War Means for the Funding of AI

By Ken Brown · Mar 11, 2026 8:00am PDT

For much more on AI finance, please join me and my colleague Cory Weinberg at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, April 27, for The Information’s Financing the AI Revolution forum. Hear from top executives and investors on how the rapid buildout of AI is reshaping tech, finance, and capital markets. Learn more here.It’s hard to overstate how... For much more on AI finance, please join me and my colleague Cory Weinberg at the New York Stock...

Art via Getty Images

What’s CXL? The Alternative Memory Technology Embraced by Google, Nvidia

By Qianer Liu · Mar 11, 2026 7:00am PDT

The global memory chip shortage sparked by the AI boom has prompted companies including Google and Nvidia to spend more effort on alternatives that could ease the supply crunch. One of them is a technology that allows servers to share memory across a data center.The technology, Compute Express Link, or CXL, is seven years old but was slow to... The global memory chip shortage sparked by the AI boom has prompted companies including Google...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI’s Shift to Shopping Apps Faces Even More Hurdles

By Ann Gehan and Sri Muppidi · Mar 11, 2026 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

With OpenAI suddenly scaling back on chatbot checkouts, its foray into shopping hinges on convincing retailers to set up shop with dedicated apps within ChatGPT—and getting people to buy stuff there. It faces hurdles on both fronts. ChatGPT apps have been around for just a few months—available for around 100 consumer firms, including... With OpenAI suddenly scaling back on chatbot checkouts, its foray into shopping hinges on...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI Plans to Launch Sora Video AI in ChatGPT in Strategy Shift

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Sri Muppidi · Mar 10, 2026 8:54pm PDT

OpenAI plans to soon launch its Sora AI-generated video capabilities in ChatGPT, according to people with knowledge of the effort. The strategy shift could increase the chatbot’s usage as well as its costs. The move comes about five months after OpenAI released a Sora mobile app, which lets people quickly create videos of themselves and other... OpenAI plans to soon launch its Sora AI-generated video capabilities in ChatGPT, according to...

Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk. Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Oracle’s Upbeat Quarter Calms Investors

By Martin Peers · Mar 10, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk. Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Oracle’s Upbeat Quarter Calms Investors

By Martin Peers · Mar 10, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Oracle managed to calm some frayed nerves on Wall Street on Tuesday. The cloud and software firm, which has become a focal point for investors’ anxiety about AI-related spending, reported slightly better than projected revenue for its February quarter. More importantly, for the second time in two quarters, it raised its revenue projection for... Oracle managed to calm some frayed nerves on Wall Street on Tuesday. The cloud and software firm,...

Photo by Gabby Jones/ Getty Images

What Quince’s $10 Billion-Valuation Round Says About Consumer Investing

By Katie Roof · Mar 10, 2026 4:24pm PDT

Is investing in consumer startups back? Well, it’s back from the dead.When we broke the news of fashion e-tailer Quince’s $10 billion valuation last week, I thought maybe I was back in 2021. It wasn’t long ago that direct-to-consumer brands like Warby Parker and Daily Harvest and more were raking in investment dollars. But following some... Is investing in consumer startups back? Well, it’s back from the dead.When we broke the news of...

Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft's commercial business. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Microsoft Doubles Down on Seat-Based Pricing For AI

By Aaron Holmes · Mar 10, 2026 10:30am PDT

Microsoft appears to be betting that its tried-and-true subscription pricing model for software is here to stay, even in the era of AI agents that run 24/7, and that customers will be OK with ever-higher prices.Microsoft on Monday announced a new AI subscription bundle that combines Office 365 and with 365 Copilot, a suite of AI tools for... Microsoft appears to be betting that its tried-and-true subscription pricing model for software...

Microsoft President Brad Smith testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in May. Photo by Getty Images.

Org Chart: The Microsoft Legal Staff Girding for Cloud-Bundling Suits

By Aaron Holmes · Mar 10, 2026 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft is facing a new cluster of antitrust probes over whether it has illegally monopolized the cloud and software markets. As it gears up for battle, it’s been reorganizing the top ranks of its legal and policy department. Over the past year, Microsoft has shifted at least four executives into new roles within the legal teams under... Microsoft is facing a new cluster of antitrust probes over whether it has illegally monopolized...

Unreasonable Labs cofounders Yuan Cao and Markus Buehler. Photos courtesy of Unreasonable Labs.

The Startup Trying a New Trick to Develop AI For Science Discovery

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 10, 2026 7:38am PDT

Unreasonable Labs cofounders Yuan Cao and Markus Buehler. Photos courtesy of Unreasonable Labs.

The Startup Trying a New Trick to Develop AI For Science Discovery

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 10, 2026 7:38am PDT

OpenAI and Anthropic have raised tens of billions of dollars on the promise of artificial intelligence that can make new discoveries in fields like medicine, biology and physics. And yet, we’re nowhere close to that. (You might recall this awkward moment from last fall when a ChatGPT-generated math “discovery” was debunked.) The... OpenAI and Anthropic have raised tens of billions of dollars on the promise of artificial...

Pony Ma, CEO, of Tencent Holdings. Photo by Justin Chin/ Getty Images

Tencent Joins China’s AI Agent Race With ‘Top-Secret’ WeChat Project

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Mar 10, 2026 6:00am PDT

Tencent Holdings is secretly building a new AI agent for its hugely popular WeChat messaging app, in hopes of leapfrogging rivals like Alibaba Group and ByteDance in the race to dominate China’s domestic AI market, according to four people familiar with the project. The project could dramatically widen how AI agents, which take actions on... Tencent Holdings is secretly building a new AI agent for its hugely popular WeChat messaging app,...

Spark General Partner Yasmin Razavi. Art by Clark Miller; Screenshot via Youtube

Anthropic Backer Spark Capital Targets $3 Billion in New Funds

By Katie Roof and Anissa Gardizy · Mar 9, 2026 7:02pm PDT · 3 comments

Spark Capital, the first venture firm to back Anthropic, is in the process of raising about $3 billion in new funds, 50% more than the size of funds it raised two years ago, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fundraise. The fundraising target will test investor demand in a venture firm that made early bets on one of the initial... Spark Capital, the first venture firm to back Anthropic, is in the process of raising about $3...

Airstrikes on an oil depot in Tehran on March 7. Sasan/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images.

Iran, IPOs and the Stockmarket

By Martin Peers · Mar 9, 2026 5:00pm PDT

It’s a good thing SpaceX is thinking of June for its upcoming IPO. There has to be a decent chance the current Iran war has ended by then, restoring some stability to the market. Then again, these hostilities could easily spread. Not only is the IPO market not necessarily safe, but there’s a cloud of uncertainty now hanging over the economy and... It’s a good thing SpaceX is thinking of June for its upcoming IPO. There has to be a decent...

The Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas in September. Kyle Grillot/Getty Images.

The Real Reason OpenAI Walked Away From an Oracle Stargate Expansion in Abilene

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 9, 2026 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

The Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas in September. Kyle Grillot/Getty Images.

AI Infrastructure

The Real Reason OpenAI Walked Away From an Oracle Stargate Expansion in Abilene

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 9, 2026 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

Finance and data center executives have been buzzing about a Friday Bloomberg report that Oracle and OpenAI won’t expand a data center for the ChatGPT maker in Abilene, Texas, where the companies launched their first Stargate-branded facilities. As I have since learned, OpenAI several weeks ago declined to expand its data center usage... Finance and data center executives have been buzzing about a Friday Bloomberg report that Oracle...