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 (photos: Getty Images)

Tech’s Surprise VIP for Outer Space

By Abram Brown · Dec 20, 2025 7:00am PST

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Inside the Anduril-ization of local crime fighting • The Arena: Sports betting is booming—and so are prediction markets• Plus, Recommendations, our weekly pop culture picks—holiday favorites edition: “2046,” “The Holdovers,” “The Holiday,” “Little Women” (2019), “The Muppet... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Inside the Anduril-ization of local crime...

Art by Clark Miller

Sports Betting Everywhere: Prediction Markets Explode

By Sara Germano and Yueqi Yang · Dec 20, 2025 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have gained popularity in the U.S. by letting people bet on everything from elections to Oscar winners to weather trends. But over the past year, a substantial portion of their wagers—and in Kalshi’s case the vast majority—have come from sports betting. And now traditional sportsbooks and... Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have gained popularity in the U.S. by letting...

Art by Clark Miller (photos: Getty Images)

Local Crime Fighting Gets Anduril-ized: How Tech Startups Are Changing City Police Forces

By Abram Brown · Dec 20, 2025 6:00am PST

Recently, Nick Noone, co-founder and CEO of Peregrine, was introduced to Candace Parker, sports broadcaster and retired WNBA star, by mutual friends. They hit it off. The two share a passion for athletics. (Noone was a Stanford gymnast.) And both have an interest in startups. (Parker is an active angel investor.) After Noone described how his... Recently, Nick Noone, co-founder and CEO of Peregrine, was introduced to Candace Parker, sports...

Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Salesforce Executives Say Trust in Large Language Models Has Declined

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Dec 19, 2025 7:54am PST · 6 comments

Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Salesforce Executives Say Trust in Large Language Models Has Declined

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Dec 19, 2025 7:54am PST · 6 comments

Over the past year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has touted his company’s main AI product, Agentforce, as a money saver for businesses looking to automate work using the power of large language models. More recently, though, Salesforce executives have delivered a different message to customers: Agentforce sometimes works better when it doesn’t... Over the past year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has touted his company’s main AI product,...

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind. Photo by Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Inside the Balancing Act Over Google’s Compute Crunch

By Erin Woo · Dec 19, 2025 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Earlier this year, Google convened a group of its top executives to address what some staffers see as an existential problem: the company doesn’t have enough computer chips for everyone who wants them. A shortage of computing capacity was creating internal tensions, as leaders of Google’s varied product areas struggled to agree on where Google... Earlier this year, Google convened a group of its top executives to address what some staffers...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Why Google’s AI Weakness Turned Out to Be a Strength

By Martin Peers · Dec 18, 2025 5:00pm PST · 4 comments

Sometimes people’s greatest weakness can be their biggest strength. And in AI, it is turning out that what we thought was a weakness for Google—the fact that it had both a search portal and an AI chatbot—is actually an advantage. People use search and AI chatbots interchangeably, to be sure, but it’s become clear through the course of this year... Sometimes people’s greatest weakness can be their biggest strength. And in AI, it is turning out...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Big Idea That Drove a Strong Year in Tech Dealmaking

By Valida Pau · Dec 18, 2025 2:25pm PST

It’s a no-brainer these days to say AI is driving tech mergers. As I wrote earlier this month, big AI deals and a deal-friendly presidential administration have pushed the value of U.S. announced tech mergers to more than $543 billion this year, the highest level since 2021. To Morgan Stanley bankers, the deals this year and over the next... It’s a no-brainer these days to say AI is driving tech mergers. As I wrote earlier this month,...

Juliana Yamada/LA Times via Getty Images.

Can UCLA Replace Teaching Assistants with AI?

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 18, 2025 10:30am PST

Juliana Yamada/LA Times via Getty Images.

Can UCLA Replace Teaching Assistants with AI?

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 18, 2025 10:30am PST

Universities grappling with slowing enrollment and imperiled federal funding are looking for new ways to cut costs. How much will artificial intelligence help? The management school at the University of California, Los Angeles has been developing AI applications for its 500 faculty and staff members, including tools that might automate the... Universities grappling with slowing enrollment and imperiled federal funding are looking for new...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Problem

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 18, 2025 7:00am PST

OpenAI has a problem and, unfortunately for it, that problem is also how it makes most of its money: ChatGPT.In this story that Sri, Amir and I published this morning, we revealed that over the past year OpenAI staffers had noticed that improvements to the company’s models weren’t necessarily lifting ChatGPT usage. Their quandary is that... OpenAI has a problem and, unfortunately for it, that problem is also how it makes most of its...

OpenAI executives Fidji Simo, Sam Altman and Mark Chen. Images via Getty. Art by Clark Miller.

How OpenAI’s Organizational Problems Hurt ChatGPT

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Sri Muppidi and Amir Efrati · Dec 18, 2025 6:00am PST · 8 comments

Over the past year, some OpenAI staffers noticed a concerning change in the way people who used ChatGPT were reacting to improvements in the chatbot. In prior years, every time OpenAI made a big upgrade to the artificial intelligence that powers the chatbot, usage surged as people easily found ways to get useful responses out of it, one employee... Over the past year, some OpenAI staffers noticed a concerning change in the way people who used...

Beta's conventionally flying electric aircraft. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: The First Flying Electric Taxis Next Year Are Likely to Act More Like Planes Than Helicopters

By Steve LeVine · Dec 18, 2025 4:30am PST

For years, electric air taxi startups have flaunted prototypes of futuristic aircraft that look like space ships and fly like helicopters. They are supposed to fly streams of passengers from downtowns to airports and other nearby places quickly and quietly. For years, electric air taxi startups have flaunted prototypes of futuristic aircraft that look...

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. Getty Images.

OpenAI's Funding Advantage Over Rivals Grows

By Martin Peers · Dec 17, 2025 5:00pm PST

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. Getty Images.

OpenAI's Funding Advantage Over Rivals Grows

By Martin Peers · Dec 17, 2025 5:00pm PST

Talk about an endorsement! For all the talk about OpenAI falling behind Google, the ChatGPT maker doesn’t seem to be having any problems attracting big backers. Last week it was Disney, putting in $1 billion, and soon it’s likely to be Amazon, judging from The Information’s scoop on Tuesday night that Amazon was in talks to invest more than $10... Talk about an endorsement! For all the talk about OpenAI falling behind Google, the ChatGPT maker...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

OpenAI Has Discussed Raising Tens of Billions at Valuation Around $750 Billion

By Sri Muppidi and Katie Roof · Dec 17, 2025 4:15pm PST · 11 comments

OpenAI has held preliminary discussions with some investors about raising new funding at a valuation of around $750 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. It could raise tens of billions of dollars, and as much as $100 billion, according to two of the people. Talks are early and nothing has been finalized. A... OpenAI has held preliminary discussions with some investors about raising new funding at a...

Artwork by Clark Miller

How Prediction Markets Are Reshaping Valuation for Both Private Unicorns and Public Tech Giants

By The Information Staff · Dec 17, 2025 1:52pm PST

The rapid ascent of prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket is introducing a volatile, real-time, and largely unregulated signal for valuing companies and forecasting performance. This disruptive trend forces new scrutiny onto both private valuations and public corporate expectations. Crucially, their growth is shadowed by significant... The rapid ascent of prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket is introducing a volatile,...

Photo by Joe Burbank/Getty Images

The Information Finance

Private Tech Giants Could Lose Scarcity Premium in IPOs

By Ken Brown · Dec 17, 2025 8:00am PST · 4 comments

Scarcity creates value in everything from precious metals to giant private tech companies. That accounts for some portion of the stunning prices investors are paying to get into SpaceX, OpenAI and other companies while they are still private. An army of wealth managers, fund executives and other go-betweens have made a lucrative living... Scarcity creates value in everything from precious metals to giant private tech companies. That...

Chart by Shane Burke

The Memory-Chip Rally Lifting Micron Isn’t Done

By Anita Ramaswamy · Dec 17, 2025 8:00am PST · 1 comment

Chart by Shane Burke

The Memory-Chip Rally Lifting Micron Isn’t Done

By Anita Ramaswamy · Dec 17, 2025 8:00am PST · 1 comment

When Micron Technology reports its fiscal first-quarter earnings on Wednesday afternoon, investors will be listening for the memory chip maker’s outlook in the next few quarters. Micron is one of three companies, along with Samsung and SK Hynix, that make high-bandwidth memory, a key component of AI chips. Surging demand for AI chips has lifted... When Micron Technology reports its fiscal first-quarter earnings on Wednesday afternoon,...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Turing Is Buying Up Failed Startups’ Codebases

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 17, 2025 7:00am PST

Last night The Information broke the news that Amazon was in talks to invest at least $10 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of more than $500 billion. As part of the deal under discussion, OpenAI would agree to use Amazon’s Trainium chips, we reported. It's the latest in a string of deals OpenAI has done to raise the money it needs to pay for its... Last night The Information broke the news that Amazon was in talks to invest at least $10 billion...

Sam Altman. Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/ Getty Images

OpenAI, Anthropic Discuss Data Deals With Biotech and Other Companies

By Valida Pau and Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 17, 2025 6:30am PST

OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have been on the prowl for specialized data to train their AI models, discussing deals with startups and public companies to license datasets on topics such as genomics. In the last several months, for instance, staff at OpenAI spoke to life sciences diagnostics vendor Revvity, accounting software firm Xero and... OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have been on the prowl for specialized data to train their AI...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Banks Pitching Mega IPOs Like SpaceX Seek to Limit Mass Selling

By Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · Dec 17, 2025 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Wall Street is gearing up for three potentially record-setting initial public offerings over the next 18 months. The talk among bankers is not about what SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI will do on their big days but about what happens after that, when the companies’ existing shareholders try to unload their multibillion-dollar stakes. Each of the... Wall Street is gearing up for three potentially record-setting initial public offerings over the...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy via Getty. Collage by Clark Miller.

OpenAI in Talks to Raise At Least $10 Billion From Amazon and Use Its AI Chips

By Anissa Gardizy, Sri Muppidi, Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Dec 16, 2025 6:19pm PST · 1 comment

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy via Getty. Collage by Clark Miller.

OpenAI in Talks to Raise At Least $10 Billion From Amazon and Use Its AI Chips

By Anissa Gardizy, Sri Muppidi, Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Dec 16, 2025 6:19pm PST · 1 comment

Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion or more in OpenAI, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The valuation would be higher than $500 billion, one of the people said. The Amazon investment would help OpenAI afford some of the commitments it has made to rent servers from cloud providers, including from Amazon Web Services.... Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion or more in OpenAI, according to three people familiar...