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

Khosla Ventures’ Rabois on How AI Is Changing Everything About Startups

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 8, 2025 7:22am PDT · 2 comments

Silicon Valley is governed by a set of rules about how Silicon Valley is supposed to operate. There are pecking orders for just about everything from employees (engineers are king) to investors (most founders would take a check from Sequoia). But every once in a while, those rules change. And right now, they are changing a lot. The rise of... Silicon Valley is governed by a set of rules about how Silicon Valley is supposed to operate....

Art by Mike Sullivan

Crypto’s Red-Hot Stock Trade Shows Signs of Cooling

By Yueqi Yang · Aug 8, 2025 6:00am PDT

Cracks are beginning to show in the booming market for stocks of companies—like Michael Saylor’s Strategy—that do little other than hold cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. These stocks became a wildly popular way for investors to speculate on bitcoin and recently on more exotic cryptocurrencies. Valuations for Strategy, and for... Cracks are beginning to show in the booming market for stocks of companies—like Michael...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo via YouTube/OpenAI.

OpenAI’s Apple-Like Moment

By Martin Peers · Aug 7, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Apple’s next iPhone unveiling is a month away, but OpenAI may have just sucked all the new tech product excitement out of the room with today’s GPT-5 unveiling. The livestream, featuring a parade of staffers highlighting the new flagship AI model’s range of impressive capabilities, was eerily reminiscent of an Apple iPhone event—slickly produced... Apple’s next iPhone unveiling is a month away, but OpenAI may have just sucked all the new tech...

Illustration via Getty

AI Startups Emulate China’s Hardcore 9-9-6 Work Culture

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 7, 2025 3:35pm PDT · 1 comment

Illustration via Getty

AI Startups Emulate China’s Hardcore 9-9-6 Work Culture

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 7, 2025 3:35pm PDT · 1 comment

For a long time, U.S.-based founders and investors looked at China’s tech work culture—nicknamed 9-9-6 because employees work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—as a grueling anomaly. But lately I’ve been hearing about employees at hard-charging artificial intelligence startups working even longer hours.The most vivid example came this week,... For a long time, U.S.-based founders and investors looked at China’s tech work culture—nicknamed...

A Northvolt plant in Poland in 2024. Photo by Getty

Tiny California Startup Buys Up Assets of Failed European Battery Giant

By Steve LeVine · Aug 7, 2025 2:30pm PDT

In November, Europe’s struggling home-grown battery champion, Sweden-based Northvolt, began to sell off assets in an effort to raise cash and pay off debt. It started with its northern California electric aviation battery subsidiary. Last month, it sold off its Poland-based stationary storage factory. And today, Northvolt said it had sold its... In November, Europe’s struggling home-grown battery champion, Sweden-based Northvolt, began to...

Mark Zuckerberg, left, and WaveForms AI co-founder Alexis Conneau. Photos by Getty

Meta Acquires AI Audio Startup WaveForms

By Kalley Huang · Aug 7, 2025 2:18pm PDT

Meta Platforms has acquired WaveForms AI, a small startup working on artificial intelligence capable of understanding emotion and mimicking it in audio form, according to a person with direct knowledge. The acquisition comes as Meta continues to overhaul its efforts in AI, after stumbles earlier this year. In June, the social media giant hired... Meta Platforms has acquired WaveForms AI, a small startup working on artificial intelligence...

Sasha Kaletsky, managing partner at Creator Ventures.

Creator Economy

The Bull Case for Snap

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 7, 2025 2:06pm PDT · 1 comment

Snap’s stock plunged this week after reporting lackluster second-quarter results. But some investors still see reasons to be bullish about the company.Sasha Kaletsky, managing partner of early-stage venture firm Creator Ventures, said the Snapchat parent company has invested “incredibly aggressively” in Spotlight, its TikTok competitor, which... Snap’s stock plunged this week after reporting lackluster second-quarter results. But some...

Photo via Getty

OpenAI Says GPT-5 Is One-Size-Fits-All; New Open Model Was Cheap to Train

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Aaron Holmes · Aug 7, 2025 11:05am PDT

Photo via Getty

OpenAI Says GPT-5 Is One-Size-Fits-All; New Open Model Was Cheap to Train

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Aaron Holmes · Aug 7, 2025 11:05am PDT

OpenAI unveiled its new flagship AI model, GPT-5, on Thursday. And with the launch, OpenAI seems to be moving more towards offering an entire AI system to its customers versus giving them the choice between models. The company said during a live-streamed presentation that it would be withdrawing user access to its older models, meaning that... OpenAI unveiled its new flagship AI model, GPT-5, on Thursday. And with the launch, OpenAI seems...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Chinese Models Lead the Pack on Video AI, for Now

By Rocket Drew · Aug 7, 2025 7:00am PDT

Before we get to today’s column, OpenAI is set to release its latest flagship model, GPT-5, later Thursday morning.We may have taken some of the wind out of the launch’s sails thanks to our reporting in recent weeks on how GPT-5 came together and what you can expect from the model (sorry OpenAI!), but there’s still lots to look forward to with... Before we get to today’s column, OpenAI is set to release its latest flagship model, GPT-5, later...

Photo by Getty

Trump’s New Chip Tariffs Could Raise Prices For Cars and Tools But Not AI

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Aug 7, 2025 6:38am PDT · 3 comments

President Donald Trump’s plan to impose 100% import tariffs on semiconductors is unlikely to affect the advanced chips designed by Nvidia and big U.S. tech firms for artificial intelligence. But depending on how the tariffs are applied, they could raise the cost of older chips which power a wide range of consumer goods, from home appliances and... President Donald Trump’s plan to impose 100% import tariffs on semiconductors is unlikely to...

Amjad Masad, co-founder and CEO of Replit

Replit’s Margins Illustrate the High Costs of Coding Agents

By Sri Muppidi · Aug 7, 2025 6:07am PDT

At Replit, a maker of artificial intelligence–powered programming tools, the launch of a new coding agent last September put its sales into overdrive. Annualized revenue at the startup surged to more than $32 million in February from a measly $2 million last August. In July 2025, it hit $144 million, according to a person close to the... At Replit, a maker of artificial intelligence–powered programming tools, the launch of a...

In May, Caltech successfully detected solar power produced in space and beamed to Earth. Photo: Ali Hajimiri/Caltech

The Electric: Co-founder of Robinhood Launches a Space Startup

By Steve LeVine · Aug 7, 2025 4:30am PDT

In May, Caltech successfully detected solar power produced in space and beamed to Earth. Photo: Ali Hajimiri/Caltech

The Electric: Co-founder of Robinhood Launches a Space Startup

By Steve LeVine · Aug 7, 2025 4:30am PDT

In 1941, Isaac Asimov told the story of Solar Station No. 5, a space station that collected power from the Sun, converted it to microwaves, and beamed it to humans living on planets a vast distance away.A little over eight decades later, Baiju Bhatt, Robinhood’s billionaire co-founder and former co-CEO, has launched a new startup seeking to do... In 1941, Isaac Asimov told the story of Solar Station No. 5, a space station that collected power...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo via Getty

Uber Leads Gig Economy Pack

By Martin Peers · Aug 6, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

For just a minute, can we put aside relentless fundraising from artificial intelligence startups? Let’s give some airtime to the gig economy firms of an older generation of startups that are now minting the kind of money these newer firms can only dream about. Yes, we’re talking about the second-quarter numbers out Wednesday from Uber, DoorDash,... For just a minute, can we put aside relentless fundraising from artificial intelligence startups?...

Carrie Colbert, Curate’s founder, and RJ Larese, a venture partner and head of “influential investing.” Photo credit: Becki Smith of Smith House Photo and courtesy of Larese.

Creator Economy

VC Firm Taps Creators as LPs, Startup Advisers

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 6, 2025 2:02pm PDT

When Pepsi acquired probiotic soda maker Poppi in May for nearly $2 billion, influencer Alix Earle also won big. The TikTok star, who promoted the brand on social media and appeared in the company’s Super Bowl commercial, got equity in the company rather than just the typical cash payment. Curate Capital, a venture capital firm that invests... When Pepsi acquired probiotic soda maker Poppi in May for nearly $2 billion, influencer Alix...

Uber CEO on the Next Decade in Autonomous and Why He Isn’t Rushing to Do Big M&A

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 6, 2025 12:48pm PDT · 4 comments

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is having a good year. Despite growing competition and the looming rise of autonomous vehicles, the company announced another quarter of solid growth and a $20 billion share buyback. And, as he shared with me in an interview on The Information’s TITV on Wednesday, it’s all a pretty simple strategy: “We are both in ride... Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is having a good year. Despite growing competition and the looming...

The Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh in May. Photo via Getty

Middle East’s AI Push Promises Big Deals—With Strings Attached

By Miles Kruppa · Aug 6, 2025 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

The Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh in May. Photo via Getty

Middle East’s AI Push Promises Big Deals—With Strings Attached

By Miles Kruppa · Aug 6, 2025 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

Big checks, cheap energy and the prospect of fast growth lured artificial intelligence companies to the Middle East. Now they are facing a reality of tough deal terms and delays that raise questions about their own growth trajectories. Saudi Arabia and the neighboring United Arab Emirates have made big pushes to invest in domestic AI projects... Big checks, cheap energy and the prospect of fast growth lured artificial intelligence companies...

Photo via Getty

OpenAI’s Secret Strategy for Its Open Models

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 6, 2025 7:00am PDT

AI developers rejoice! After months of buildup, OpenAI yesterday finally released the first open-weight large language models it’s put out since 2019, which in AI land is forever. (ChatGPT itself was released less than three years ago.) The impetus for OpenAI to launch an open-weight model goes back to China’s DeepSeek, which exploded onto... AI developers rejoice! After months of buildup, OpenAI yesterday finally released the first...

Art via Mike Sullivan

AI Coding Startups Like Cursor Have Gotten Too Rich

By Anita Ramaswamy · Aug 6, 2025 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Investors have embraced vibe coding as the next big thing in artificial intelligence. They are pouring cash into fast-growing companies offering coding assistants that can speed the work of software engineers—or potentially replace them. That optimism may be shortsighted. The companies that make AI models, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, are... Investors have embraced vibe coding as the next big thing in artificial intelligence. They are...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel at The Information's Future of Influence event in June. Photo by Erin Beach.

Snap’s Earnings Show a Stalled Business

By Martin Peers · Aug 5, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Last Friday, the day after Figma went public with a 250% pop, former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan tweeted that Figma’s success was “a great reminder that letting startups grow into independently successful businesses, rather than be bought by existing giants, can generate enormous value.” Good point. But for every Figma, there’s a... Last Friday, the day after Figma went public with a 250% pop, former Federal Trade Commission...

Left: Luma AI CEO Amit Jain. Right: Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela. Photos via YouTube and Getty.

Runway, Luma in Talks for Multibillion-Dollar Fundraises as Revenue Picks Up

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Rocket Drew and Sri Muppidi · Aug 5, 2025 4:16pm PDT

Left: Luma AI CEO Amit Jain. Right: Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela. Photos via YouTube and Getty.

Runway, Luma in Talks for Multibillion-Dollar Fundraises as Revenue Picks Up

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Rocket Drew and Sri Muppidi · Aug 5, 2025 4:16pm PDT

Startups that use artificial intelligence to make videos for Hollywood studios and amateur filmmakers are getting thirsty for more capital. Runway, a startup that has cut deals with Lionsgate and AMC Networks, is in talks with investors to raise around $500 million at a valuation of at least $5 billion before the investment, or 67% higher than... Startups that use artificial intelligence to make videos for Hollywood studios and amateur...