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

Snyk CEO Peter McKay. Screenshot via YouTube

Cybersecurity Startup Snyk Considers Buyout Interest as IPO Plans Stall

By Valida Pau, Cory Weinberg, Katie Roof and Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 1, 2025 10:36am PDT · 3 comments

Snyk, a startup that sells security tools for developers, seemed like a shoo-in for a lucrative initial public offering a few years ago. Sales were doubling or tripling every year, reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, as exploding corporate use of open-source software code created vulnerabilities that businesses needed to... Snyk, a startup that sells security tools for developers, seemed like a shoo-in for a lucrative...

Adam Presser. Photo via Getty

TikTok Insiders Bet No. 2, Adam Presser, Will Run New Venture

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Juro Osawa · Oct 1, 2025 10:08am PDT · 2 comments

President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that a joint venture will oversee TikTok’s U.S. business left unanswered the important question of who will run the new company. Inside TikTok, executives say there’s a very obvious candidate: Adam Presser, the longtime No. 2 to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, and one of the top Americans at the company. In... President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that a joint venture will oversee TikTok’s U.S....

Art by Mike Sullivan

Fermi America IPO Is a Leap of Faith on Debt, Data Centers—and Trump

By Miles Kruppa · Oct 1, 2025 7:52am PDT · 2 comments

Fermi America has a grand plan: Assemble the largest data center complex ever, an Amarillo, Texas, facility that will suck up enough energy to power 8 million homes. Still, newly public Fermi is essentially asking investors to take a Texas-size leap of faith on a months-old business that could become the next topsy-turvy meme stock. Adding to... Fermi America has a grand plan: Assemble the largest data center complex ever, an Amarillo,...

Photo by Craig Warga

Will Reinforcement Learning Get Us to AGI? This Anthropic Researcher Thinks So

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

Photo by Craig Warga

Will Reinforcement Learning Get Us to AGI? This Anthropic Researcher Thinks So

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

Thanks to everyone who attended our AI Agenda Live event in New York yesterday! It was incredible to get to meet so many subscribers in person and hear from leaders in AI research, robotics and VC about what they’re seeing in this crazy industry right now. (For a full recap of the event, check out my colleagues’ write-up here.)My last panel with... Thanks to everyone who attended our AI Agenda Live event in New York yesterday! It was incredible...

Shohei Ohtani. Photo via Getty.

Slop-Proof Investing Strategies

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 30, 2025 5:18pm PDT

The biggest stars of MLB, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, are taking the field on day one of the playoffs this evening. The league’s attendance and TV ratings are up. America’s pastime, often left for dead, has proven to be good business for its players and owners.I mention this not just because... The biggest stars of MLB, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New...

Photos by Craig Warga

Business Adoption of AI Will Take Years, Say Venture Capitalists and Executives

By The Information Staff · Sep 30, 2025 3:50pm PDT · 6 comments

Artificial intelligence services will take years to penetrate the economy, because businesses need to figure out how to use new AI products and train workers to use them, according to speakers at The Information’s AI Agenda Live conference on Tuesday. Sarah Guo, founder and partner at venture capital firm Conviction, noted that cloud computing... Artificial intelligence services will take years to penetrate the economy, because businesses...

Cyberstarts Founder Gili Raanan. Photo provided by Unlmtdpartners.

Cyberstarts’ New Fund Is a Bet on Cybersecurity M&A

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 30, 2025 11:33am PDT

Venture capitalist Gili Raanan is best known for his first investments in cloud security startups Wiz and Cyera. But as startups stay private for longer, his Israel-based venture firm Cyberstarts is now also investing in later rounds. It now has another $380 million for those more mature investments, thanks to a new fund raised this week to... Venture capitalist Gili Raanan is best known for his first investments in cloud security startups...

Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

Microsoft Hopes Anthropic Will Solve Its Copilot Problems

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

Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

Microsoft Hopes Anthropic Will Solve Its Copilot Problems

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

After AI coding apps like Cursor and Replit popularized “vibe coding,” Microsoft wants to make “vibe working” happen.Microsoft on Monday unveiled Office Agent, which lets people create complex PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets based on simple written prompts in the Copilot chatbot. After AI coding apps like Cursor and Replit popularized “vibe coding,” Microsoft wants to make “...

Subscriber Survey

Top AI Chatbots Lose Ground Among Our Readers

By Shane Burke · Sep 30, 2025 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

ChatGPT remains by far the most widely used chatbot among people responding to The Information Pro’s latest subscriber survey, but it lost ground over the past seven months. So did most other chatbots, possibly a sign that our readers are experimenting with fewer chatbots and have decided on those they want to primarily use. Overall, the use of... ChatGPT remains by far the most widely used chatbot among people responding to The Information...

Art by Clark Miller.

Three New Papers AI Researchers Are Reading; What To Expect at AI Agenda Live

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 30, 2025 7:00am PDT

It wouldn’t be the eve of our AI Agenda Live conference without a midnight scoop! In case you missed it, check out last night’s story from Amir, Cory and me on OpenAI’s financials for the first half of 2025.I might be slightly sleep-deprived, but I’m thrilled to be seeing many of you in just a few hours at our AI Agenda Live: The Next Wave event... It wouldn’t be the eve of our AI Agenda Live conference without a midnight scoop! In case you...

Art by Clark Miller

SEC Is Moving to Allow Stocks to Trade Like Cryptocurrencies

By Yueqi Yang · Sep 30, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

The Securities and Exchange Commission is working on a plan to allow stocks to trade like cryptocurrencies on the blockchain, but is facing strong opposition from traditional financial firms such as Citadel Securities, according to people involved in the process. The SEC’s staff is talking to industry representatives about the plan, which is a... The Securities and Exchange Commission is working on a plan to allow stocks to trade like...

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar via Getty

OpenAI’s First Half Results: $4.3 Billion in Sales, $2.5 Billion Cash Burn

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Amir Efrati and Cory Weinberg · Sep 29, 2025 9:18pm PDT · 31 comments

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar via Getty

OpenAI’s First Half Results: $4.3 Billion in Sales, $2.5 Billion Cash Burn

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Amir Efrati and Cory Weinberg · Sep 29, 2025 9:18pm PDT · 31 comments

OpenAI generated around $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025, about 16% more than it generated all of last year, according to financial disclosures to shareholders. The company said it burned $2.5 billion, in large part due to its research and development costs for developing artificial intelligence and for running ChatGPT. Some of... OpenAI generated around $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025, about 16% more than it...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Goes Shopping

By Martin Peers · Sep 29, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

You might think the $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts would be today’s biggest business event. But that’s yesterday’s news—word of the deal broke on Friday. (For more on that, see below). Today’s biggest news, in reality, is OpenAI’s launch of its shopping feature, which puts the ChatGPT creator in competition with everyone from Amazon to... You might think the $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts would be today’s biggest business...

Art via Getty; Mike Sullivan

AI Infrastructure

Sam Altman Wants 250 Gigawatts of Power. Is That Possible?

By Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Sep 29, 2025 8:00am PDT · 3 comments

Welcome to the first edition of The Information’s newsletter on AI infrastructure. In the coming months, we’ll cover the data centers, chips, networking and energy that power AI.Artificial intelligence is hungry for power at a scale that defies belief.Last week, OpenAI and Nvidia said they would work together to develop 10 gigawatts of data... Welcome to the first edition of The Information’s newsletter on AI infrastructure. In the coming...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Product-List Startup Gets a ChatGPT Bump; Huang’s $1 Trillion Claim

By Ann Gehan · Sep 29, 2025 7:15am PDT

Before we get to today’s newsletter, Stephanie’s profile of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab, the mysterious $10 billion startup, is a fascinating look at Murati’s background and explains why she’s got such a following among AI researchers and, as a result, investors. It’s definitely worth a read.On to today’s column…As artificial... Before we get to today’s newsletter, Stephanie’s profile of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab,...

The People Running Elon Musk’s xAI

By Theo Wayt · Sep 29, 2025 6:00am PDT

The People Running Elon Musk’s xAI

By Theo Wayt · Sep 29, 2025 6:00am PDT

Elon Musk has been paying closer attention to his artificial intelligence company, xAI, over the past few months, pushing staff to move as quickly as possible to catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. The xAI CEO’s increased involvement has led to frequent reorganizations, demotions and firings on the teams building the company’s AI... Elon Musk has been paying closer attention to his artificial intelligence company, xAI, over the...

A Mercedes-Benz team drove an EV powered with a solid state battery 750 miles on a single charge. Photo: Courtesy Mercedes-Benz.

The Electric: The Gimmickry Around Coming Solid State Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Sep 29, 2025 4:30am PDT

For a half century, scientists have agreed that pure lithium metal—the lightest metal on the periodic table and jam-packed with energy—would be the best material for a battery. Since lithium is explosive when exposed to moisture, they have tried to make the battery using a solid-state structure, using no liquid. But no one has managed to make... For a half century, scientists have agreed that pure lithium metal—the lightest metal on the...

Dbt Labs founder and CEO Tristan Handy, left, and Fivetran founder and CEO George Fraser. Photos via YouTube; Getty

Data Startup Fivetran In Talks to Buy Dbt Labs in Multibillion Dollar Deal

By Valida Pau, Katie Roof and Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 27, 2025 4:30pm PDT

Fivetran, a startup used by companies to manage and prepare data for analytics and artificial intelligence, is in talks to buy data management company dbt Labs, according to people with direct knowledge of the deal. The deal would combine two data companies that are facing competition from artificial intelligence. Fivetran and dbt Labs have... Fivetran, a startup used by companies to manage and prepare data for analytics and artificial...

Art by Clark Miller

Working at AI Speed Without Going Crazy

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 27, 2025 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Mira Murati’s enigma machine • Artificial Intelligence: Nvidia’s AI stimulus plan• Plus, our Recommendations: “Desk Set,” “Mission Accomplished” and “It’s Only Drowning”When you’ve worked in an industry for a while, you learn its rhythm. For... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: ...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

How Jensen Huang is Using Nvidia Cash to Rule the AI Economy

By Anissa Gardizy, Nick Wingfield, Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · Sep 27, 2025 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

Artificial Intelligence

How Jensen Huang is Using Nvidia Cash to Rule the AI Economy

By Anissa Gardizy, Nick Wingfield, Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · Sep 27, 2025 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

Even by the standards of one of the most prodigious dealmakers in tech, the past month or so has been a head-spinning one for Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. Just in September, Nvidia agreed to buy any unused Nvidia graphics processing units that cloud provider CoreWeave doesn’t sell to other customers over the next seven years, a deal potentially... Even by the standards of one of the most prodigious dealmakers in tech, the past month or so has...