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

Software’s Existential AI Crisis Is Bonanza for Bankers

By Valida Pau · Sep 2, 2025 12:29pm PDT · 1 comment

U.S. tech merger activity is headed for its best year since 2021—driven in part by enterprise software and other older tech companies acquiring artificial intelligence startups to beef up their AI offerings. So far this year, U.S. software companies have spent nearly $33.8 billion on 150 completed AI acquisitions, surpassing the combined... U.S. tech merger activity is headed for its best year since 2021—driven in part by...

Replit CEO Amjad Masad.

Why Replit is Betting AI Prices Will Never Come Down

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 2, 2025 10:30am PDT

The prices businesses are paying for AI has become the subject of much moaning and gnashing of teeth among startups and their investors in recent weeks. At the heart of the issue, as we reported two weeks ago, is that the price of state-of-the-art models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI haven’t fallen much in the past year, and AI... The prices businesses are paying for AI has become the subject of much moaning and gnashing of...

Art via Getty

Why AI Psychosis Is Here to Stay

By Rocket Drew · Sep 2, 2025 7:00am PDT

Before we get into today’s Agenda, be sure to check out the story my colleagues and I published on Friday laying out Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. The article can catch you up to speed on the case and explain why Musk stands a chance of winning if it goes to trial in March. The stakes couldn’t be higher for OpenAI:... Before we get into today’s Agenda, be sure to check out the story my colleagues and I published...

Anysphere CEO Michael Truell. Screenshot via YouTube, art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI and XAI Show Interest in Cursor’s Coding Data

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 2, 2025 6:00am PDT

Anysphere CEO Michael Truell. Screenshot via YouTube, art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI and XAI Show Interest in Cursor’s Coding Data

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 2, 2025 6:00am PDT

Startups that sell artificial intelligence–powered coding assistants such as Cursor have created some of the fastest-growing businesses in Silicon Valley, making them ripe acquisition targets for OpenAI and other large AI developers. So far, Cursor’s owner Anysphere isn’t selling. Instead, potential acquirers such as OpenAI, xAI and... Startups that sell artificial intelligence–powered coding assistants such as Cursor have...

Art by Clark Miller

DOGE Is Using AI to Target SEC Regulations for Cutting

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Sep 1, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission are using artificial intelligence to identify rules and regulations to potentially cut, as President Donald Trump’s administration wages a tumultuous campaign aimed at limiting financial regulators and sidelining staff it views as not aligned with its priorities. Employees associated with the... Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission are using artificial intelligence to identify...

The Beta Alia in Norway in August. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: The Startup Betting That Electric Flying Taxis Will First Carry Cargo

By Steve LeVine · Sep 1, 2025 4:30am PDT

Leading electric air taxi startups have stepped up a campaign of public exploits as they move closer to carrying paid passengers, including recent showy flights by test pilots in California, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. But they may be outdone by a group of less-flashy electric aviation companies: cargo startups that will ferry no... Leading electric air taxi startups have stepped up a campaign of public exploits as they move...

Art by Clark Miller

How AIs Can Have Secret Conversations

By Abram Brown · Aug 30, 2025 8:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Finally! An explanation of what the Musk-Altman legal feud really means• The Arena: Can the metaverse and TikTok help tennis connect with young fans?• Plus, our Recommendations: “The Rise and Fall of Indie Sleaze,” “Anointed” and “Alien: Earth” Generally speaking, humans communicate with... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Finally! An explanation of what the...

Photo via Getty

StubHub Missed Financial Targets Ahead of IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 30, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Getty

StubHub Missed Financial Targets Ahead of IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 30, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Even as StubHub makes a renewed push to go public, its business isn’t expanding as quickly as it had hoped. In the first half of this year, the ticketing app fell short of revenue and profit projections it shared with lenders earlier this year, in part due to new U.S. ticket pricing rules. The shortfall highlights the volatile nature of the... Even as StubHub makes a renewed push to go public, its business isn’t expanding as quickly as it...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

Can Tennis Connect With Young Fans Through the Metaverse and TikTok?

By Sara Germano · Aug 30, 2025 6:00am PDT

For decades, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships has been a crown jewel of the global sports calendar. As the fourth and final Grand Slam of the tennis season, it has hosted historic athletic feats by everyone from Arthur Ashe to Venus Williams. Boisterous night matches—like last weekend’s Daniil Medvedev meltdown—are attended... For decades, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships has been a crown jewel of the global sports...

Art by Clark Miller

Meta’s AI Leaders Discuss Using Google, OpenAI Models in Apps

By Kalley Huang and Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 29, 2025 4:47pm PDT

Meta Platforms’ plans to improve the artificial intelligence features in its apps could lead the company to partner with Google or OpenAI, two of its biggest AI rivals. Leaders in Meta’s new AI organization, Meta Superintelligence Labs, have discussed using Google’s Gemini model to provide conversational, text-based answers to questions that... Meta Platforms’ plans to improve the artificial intelligence features in its apps could lead the...

CEO and founder of OpenEvidence, Daniel Nadler. Screenshot via YouTube.

‘ChatGPT for Doctors’ Startup Considers $6 Billion-Valuation Investment

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 29, 2025 4:00pm PDT · 2 comments

OpenEvidence, which operates a ChatGPT-like product for doctors to find health information, is considering multiple investment offers valuing the three-year-old startup at $6 billion, nearly double its private valuation from a financing just one month ago, according to three people involved in the potential deal. The funding conversations are... OpenEvidence, which operates a ChatGPT-like product for doctors to find health information, is...

President Trump and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in April. Photo via Getty

Nvidia’s Puzzling China PR Play

By Martin Peers · Aug 29, 2025 3:00pm PDT · 1 comment

President Trump and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in April. Photo via Getty

Nvidia’s Puzzling China PR Play

By Martin Peers · Aug 29, 2025 3:00pm PDT · 1 comment

As we wrap up for the Labor Day weekend, one question has persisted through this week: Why is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang so determined to demonstrate his need for the Chinese market? With Nvidia’s ability to sell its artificial intelligence chips to China currently in limbo—caught between U.S. and Chinese government restrictions—another CEO might... As we wrap up for the Labor Day weekend, one question has persisted through this week: Why is...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty images.

Why Musk’s Legal Battle Over OpenAI’s Structure Isn’t a Total Long Shot

By Rocket Drew, Theo Wayt and Sri Muppidi · Aug 29, 2025 9:01am PDT · 2 comments

Much is known about the pastimes of the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk. They include playing videogames, fathering children and reading Douglas Adams novels. Over the past couple of years, Musk has picked up another hobby: waging war against Sam Altman, an ex-friend with whom he co-founded OpenAI a decade ago as a nonprofit. And Musk’s... Much is known about the pastimes of the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk. They include...

Art via Mike Sullivan

DeepSeek Opts for Huawei Chips to Train Some Models

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Aug 29, 2025 6:00am PDT

DeepSeek, one of China’s leading artificial intelligence developers, has decided to use Huawei Technologies’ AI chips to train some of its AI models, a sign it is reducing its reliance on Nvidia chips, according to three people with knowledge of the effort. The move follows pressure by the Chinese government on local tech companies to use... DeepSeek, one of China’s leading artificial intelligence developers, has decided to use Huawei...

Edo Liberty, founder and CEO of Pinecone. Screenshot via TedAI San Francisco.

Top-Funded AI Database Startup Pinecone Considers a Sale

By Valida Pau, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 28, 2025 6:05pm PDT · 1 comment

When the artificial intelligence boom began a few years ago, investors flocked to startups that helped businesses transform and store proprietary data in a format AI could understand, known as a vector database. The technology allowed businesses to use a customized AI chatbot to search or analyze their customer and sales information. Since then,... When the artificial intelligence boom began a few years ago, investors flocked to startups that...

Photo via Getty

The Lessons of Google’s Ad Tech Business

By Martin Peers · Aug 28, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Photo via Getty

The Lessons of Google’s Ad Tech Business

By Martin Peers · Aug 28, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Every day this week, we and other close watchers of Google have been holding our breath, waiting for Judge Amit Mehta of the federal court in Washington to issue a ruling on how Google’s illegal search monopoly should be remedied. Options include a forced divestiture of its Chrome browser (where many Google searches originate), ending Google’s... Every day this week, we and other close watchers of Google have been holding our breath, waiting...

Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli. Photo via Getty

The New European Startup Darlings

By Katie Roof · Aug 28, 2025 3:36pm PDT · 4 comments

Hi, it’s Katie Roof, spending my first week at The Information schmoozing with Europe’s startup leaders at a conference called TechBBQ in Copenhagen. It’s been close to three years since I’ve been at a tech conference on the Continent, and the difference is palpable. In 2022, there was a panic in the air about a stock sell-off that eventually... Hi, it’s Katie Roof, spending my first week at The Information schmoozing with Europe’s startup...

Kaya Yurieff at The Information's Future of Influence event in June. Photo by Erin Beach

Creator Economy

Thank You—And What’s Next for The Creator Economy

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 28, 2025 2:14pm PDT · 3 comments

We are kicking off today’s newsletter with some news—this time about me. I’m wrapping up my time at The Information and this will be my last Creator Economy newsletter.It’s been such a privilege to write this newsletter, host five summits and break news about the creator economy and social media over the past four and a half years. I wanted to... We are kicking off today’s newsletter with some news—this time about me. I’m wrapping up my time...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Why OpenAI is Going After Healthcare

By Amir Efrati · Aug 28, 2025 10:30am PDT

It was easy to miss last week’s announcement that Ashley Alexander, a 12-year veteran of Facebook and Instagram, is becoming vice president of health products at OpenAI, with the goal of improving “healthcare outcomes and access.” Alexander’s LinkedIn post didn’t give clues about exactly what products she will oversee, but it’s not hard to see... It was easy to miss last week’s announcement that Ashley Alexander, a 12-year veteran of Facebook...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Meet the Google-Scraping Startup Used by ChatGPT, Cursor and Perplexity

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 28, 2025 7:00am PDT

Art via Mike Sullivan

Meet the Google-Scraping Startup Used by ChatGPT, Cursor and Perplexity

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 28, 2025 7:00am PDT

Last week, we wrote about SerpApi, an Austin-based startup that scrapes Google Search results and offers that data through an application programming interface. Among its customers is OpenAI, which uses SerpApi’s services to ensure its ChatGPT can answer user queries with up-to-date information. (SerpApi CEO and founder Julien Khaleghy... Last week, we wrote about SerpApi, an Austin-based startup that scrapes Google Search results and...