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

Sierra's Bret Taylor, The Information's Jessica Lessin and Harvey's Winston Weinberg.

Why AI Model Makers Might Develop Like Cable and Cellular Companies

By Martin Peers · Aug 20, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Could the artificial intelligence business develop like cable TV or cellular, where the real money is made by apps running on top of internet pipes, rather than by the telecom firms that spent billions building those pipes? That would be a big deal for AI. It implies that AI agent developers will end up more profitable than AI model makers, like... Could the artificial intelligence business develop like cable TV or cellular, where the real...

Sierra’s Bret Taylor and Harvey’s Winston Weinberg: Where the AI Agent War Will Be Won

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 20, 2025 3:33pm PDT · 1 comment

It wasn’t the message I expected to hear from Bret Taylor, a veteran Silicon Valley executive and, yes—an artificial intelligence startup founder—as I interviewed him on The Information’s TITV to discuss his latest startup, Sierra. Taylor, more than anyone else I know in the tech industry, has straddled both big and small tech. I... It wasn’t the message I expected to hear from Bret Taylor, a veteran Silicon Valley executive...

Bella Freud, the creator of the “Fashion Neurosis” video podcast. Photo courtesy of Vox Media

Creator Economy

Vox Media Inks Partnership with Bella Freud’s Podcast

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 20, 2025 2:09pm PDT

Every episode of Bella Freud’s video podcast begins the same way: A doorbell rings, and she welcomes a guest—ranging from supermodel Kate Moss to designer Christian Louboutin—to lay down on a couch in her London home. A camera attached to the couch captures a flattering angle of the person’s face from above. The setup is a... Every episode of Bella Freud’s video podcast begins the same way: A doorbell rings, and she...

Cursor CEO Michael Truell. Screenshot via YouTube

The Power of Defaults: Why OpenAI, Anthropic and Google Are Courting App Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 20, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Cursor CEO Michael Truell. Screenshot via YouTube

The Power of Defaults: Why OpenAI, Anthropic and Google Are Courting App Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 20, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

The debate around whether it’s better to be an AI-powered app that millions of people use, like Cursor, or an AI model like Claude that powers such apps is getting interesting.While Cursor and other customers of AI models are hurting as OpenAI and Anthropic mostly hold model prices steady rather than cutting them—as they have been doing for... The debate around whether it’s better to be an AI-powered app that millions of people use, like ...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Cost of Buying AI Is Creeping Up, Boosting Microsoft and Other Sellers

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 20, 2025 6:30am PDT · 2 comments

Last year, the cost for businesses to purchase state-of-the-art artificial intelligence was plummeting. Top AI providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google had slashed the price of their flagship AI models by more than 90% compared to prior years, while DeepSeek and other open-source developers were releasing free yet powerful models. Google... Last year, the cost for businesses to purchase state-of-the-art artificial intelligence was...

Character AI CEO Karandeep Anand. Photo via Flickr/Fortune.

Character.AI in Talks to Sell or Raise Money, a Year After Founders Depart

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Kalley Huang and Valida Pau · Aug 20, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Character.AI, the chatbot maker whose founders Google hired as part of a $2.7 billion deal last August, has in recent weeks discussed a sale of the company with potential buyers, bankers and staff, according to three people who have spoken to its executives. The nearly four-year-old startup could try to stick it out as an independent company... Character.AI, the chatbot maker whose founders Google hired as part of a $2.7 billion deal last...

Photo via Eight Sleep

Eight Sleep Embraces AI For Mattress Topper

By Martin Peers · Aug 19, 2025 5:00pm PDT

What is it about sleep technology that causes tech investors to dream of immense riches? Eight Sleep, which makes high-tech mattress toppers and is a favorite brand of many tech luminaries, announced Tuesday it had raised $100 million partly to—in all seriousness—“supercharge its AI roadmap”with projects including an “AI Agent for Sleep... What is it about sleep technology that causes tech investors to dream of immense riches? Eight...

Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk (left) speaks with The Information's Akash Pasricha.

How Beehiiv Is Taking on Substack

By Kaya Yurieff and Akash Pasricha · Aug 19, 2025 3:16pm PDT

Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk (left) speaks with The Information's Akash Pasricha.

Creator Economy

How Beehiiv Is Taking on Substack

By Kaya Yurieff and Akash Pasricha · Aug 19, 2025 3:16pm PDT

Newsletter publishers are having a moment again. Beehiiv, a four-year-old competitor to the larger and older Substack, is on pace to double its total revenue this year, to $30 million, CEO and co-founder Tyler Denk told my colleague Akash Pasricha on Tuesday during an interview on TITV, The Information’s new daily streaming show. Investors... Newsletter publishers are having a moment again. Beehiiv, a four-year-old competitor to the...

Photo via Getty

What to Watch as the IPO Heat Turns Up

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 19, 2025 3:00pm PDT

Initial public offerings are generating buzz again, and share prices of tech listings have doubled on average this year. The Nasdaq has been at an all-time high, today’s big-tech stock sell-off notwithstanding. And Chamath Palihapitiya is raising money for a special purpose acquisition company. Are we about to hit a speculative IPO and SPAC... Initial public offerings are generating buzz again, and share prices of tech listings have...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Is AI Better Than Humans at Interviewing People?

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 19, 2025 10:39am PDT · 1 comment

Job seekers are increasingly running into employers using artificial intelligence-powered job interviewers, and the process has garnered backlash and in some cases sparked lawsuits from spurned candidates. But AI interviewers might actually increase candidates’ chances of getting hired.A new research study published this week from the... Job seekers are increasingly running into employers using artificial intelligence-powered job...

World Liberty Financial co-founder Donald Trump Jr. (left), is joined at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square by Zach Witkoff, the incoming chairman of Alt5 Sigma (center) and incoming Alt5 Sigma board director Eric Trump (right). Photo by Getty

Trump Partner in Crypto Venture Faces SEC Allegations

By Michael Roddan · Aug 19, 2025 10:15am PDT · 1 comment

The Trump family has partnered with a father-son duo with a history of run-ins with financial regulators for a deal to sell $1.5 billion of its crypto tokens. A biotech turned crypto company called Alt5 Sigma will sell $1.5 billion of stock and use the money to buy the crypto token created by World Liberty Financial, founded by Donald Trump Jr.... The Trump family has partnered with a father-son duo with a history of run-ins with financial...

Pylon cofounders Robert Eng, Marty Kausas and Advith Chelikani. Photo courtesy of Pylon.

Why Andreessen and Bain Backed a Self-Described ‘Zendesk Killer’

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 19, 2025 7:00am PDT

Pylon cofounders Robert Eng, Marty Kausas and Advith Chelikani. Photo courtesy of Pylon.

Why Andreessen and Bain Backed a Self-Described ‘Zendesk Killer’

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 19, 2025 7:00am PDT

Automating customer service has been among the most popular applications of artificial intelligence models, and investors have pumped about $1 billion into six key startups developing them. Now, a seventh is throwing its hat into the ring.San Francisco-based startup Pylon has raised $31 million in a fundraise co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ... Automating customer service has been among the most popular applications of artificial...

Photo via Shutterstock

News Publishers Shift AI Licensing Focus to Usage-Based Deals

By Catherine Perloff · Aug 19, 2025 6:00am PDT

Signs that OpenAI and other artificial intelligence firms are generating ever-increasing revenues are getting attention—from news publishers who want to get their piece of the action. Publishers that have struck deals to license their content to AI firms for training large language models are now discussing internally—and in at least... Signs that OpenAI and other artificial intelligence firms are generating ever-increasing revenues...

Outside the Lordstown, Ohio plant in 2018. Photo via AP.

What Foxconn’s Ohio Factory Deal Says About the Increasing Reach of AI

By Martin Peers · Aug 18, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Talk about symbolism. Foxconn chair Young Liu said today that the electronics manufacturer was selling its Lordstown, Ohio, electric vehicle factory to SoftBank, which will use it to make artificial intelligence computer servers. It’s the latest example of how AI is supplanting other newish technologies. (Notably, the Lordstown factory, which... Talk about symbolism. Foxconn chair Young Liu said today that the electronics manufacturer was...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Getty Images. Art by Clark Miller.

Artificial Intelligence

Behind Many Robots, a Human Operator Toils

By Alex Perry and Rocket Drew · Aug 18, 2025 1:14pm PDT · 6 comments

When Nvidia wanted to show off software for developing artificial intelligence at its flagship customer conference in March, it brought out a Star Wars–inspired robot that bobbed its head as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang talked to it. “Stand right here,” said Huang, pointing to his side, and the knee-high robot waddled to the spot, receiving... When Nvidia wanted to show off software for developing artificial intelligence at its flagship...

ByteDance’s Singapore headquarters. Photo via Getty

ByteDance’s Upcoming ‘World Model’; Altman’s Thoughts on the GPT-5 Fiasco, Profitability, and Going Public

By Juro Osawa, Qianer Liu and Jing Yang · Aug 18, 2025 7:00am PDT

ByteDance’s Singapore headquarters. Photo via Getty

ByteDance’s Upcoming ‘World Model’; Altman’s Thoughts on the GPT-5 Fiasco, Profitability, and Going Public

By Juro Osawa, Qianer Liu and Jing Yang · Aug 18, 2025 7:00am PDT

Chinese developers of artificial intelligence software have already pulled ahead in domains like open-source and video generation. Now, one such developer is trying their hand at making AI models that can generate realistic worlds that users can explore, like immersive video games.ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is developing such an AI,... Chinese developers of artificial intelligence software have already pulled ahead in domains like...

Photo via Getty

To Court Big Brands, Walmart Throws Some Smaller Merchants Under the Bus

By Ann Gehan · Aug 18, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

For nearly 25 years, Tracey Shelley, an online merchant who sells products like Olay moisturizer, Coppertone sunscreen and Dr. Squatch deodorant, operated mainly on Amazon’s marketplace. But in the past few years, Shelley said she shifted nearly half her business to Walmart, as the retailer lobbied online sellers to sell on its site. In its... For nearly 25 years, Tracey Shelley, an online merchant who sells products like Olay moisturizer,...

Lyten CEO Dan Cook. Photo: Courtesy Lyten

Exclusive From The Electric: Cash Will Be Lyten's Biggest Challenge in its Northvolt Takeover

By Steve LeVine · Aug 18, 2025 4:30am PDT

If everything goes well in the coming months, San Jose, Calif., startup Lyten will crank up the production of nickel-based batteries at its newly acquired plant in Sweden. It will then ship those batteries to another plant it’s just acquired in Poland, and make them into stationary storage systems for a list of waiting customers. If everything goes well in the coming months, San Jose, Calif., startup Lyten will crank up the...

Lyten bought Northvolt's battery plants in Poland on left, Sweden right. Images via Getty

The Inside Story of How a Tiny California Startup Grabbed Europe’s Battery Giant

By Steve LeVine · Aug 17, 2025 1:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Until last year, things looked pretty good for Northvolt, a Sweden-based battery startup that Europeans saw as their answer to Tesla. The company had vacuumed up $13 billion in capital from largely blue-chip investors and taken $55 billion in battery orders from major carmakers like BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo. Northvolt executives spoke of going... Until last year, things looked pretty good for Northvolt, a Sweden-based battery startup that...

Art by Clark Miller

AI’s Personality Problem

By Abram Brown · Aug 16, 2025 7:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

AI’s Personality Problem

By Abram Brown · Aug 16, 2025 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Foreign researchers weigh AI riches against immigration worries • The Arena: Why David Ellison will want more streaming punch for Paramount• Plus, our Recommendations: “Buzz: The Man & The Moon,” “An Oral History of Atlantis” and “The Gilded Age.” Soon, the greatest challenge in... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Foreign researchers weigh AI riches ...