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

Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty

Anthropic’s Upcoming Models Will Think… And Think Some More

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 14, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

The race to develop reasoning models that “think” harder is at full force. At Anthropic, which arrived later than OpenAI and Google to the reasoning race, two upcoming models are taking the concept of “thinking” to the extreme.Anthropic has new versions of its two largest models—Claude Sonnet and Claude Opus—set to come out in the upcoming... The race to develop reasoning models that “think” harder is at full force. At Anthropic, which...

TSMC Is Critical for AI, and Its Shares Are on Sale

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 14, 2025 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Artificial intelligence depends on Nvidia’s computer chips. Nvidia depends on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to make those chips. Right now, TSMC is in many ways the better way to invest in AI for the long term. TSMC and Nvidia are closely linked in business and in the stock market. Both companies’ stocks have soared on the back of the... Artificial intelligence depends on Nvidia’s computer chips. Nvidia depends on Taiwan...

An advertisement in Hong Kong in April. Photo via Getty

Crypto Gets Its Trump Bounce

By Yueqi Yang · May 13, 2025 5:30pm PDT

After a rocky few months for bitcoin investors following Donald Trump’s inauguration, crypto insiders are on a high once again. Consider the case of David Bailey, the Bitcoin Magazine CEO who advised Donald Trump on crypto policy and helped fundraise for his 2024 campaign. Yesterday, Bailey announced that he has raised $710 million to launch... After a rocky few months for bitcoin investors following Donald Trump’s inauguration, crypto...

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Working on Photo Messaging Feature Despite Employee Concerns Over Sextortion

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · May 13, 2025 4:23pm PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Working on Photo Messaging Feature Despite Employee Concerns Over Sextortion

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · May 13, 2025 4:23pm PDT

TikTok has been working on a new feature that will allow users in the U.S. to share photos over direct messages inside the app, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. The move could be a way to encourage more people to use direct messaging on TikTok, a feature that hasn’t taken off as it has on Instagram and Snapchat. But the... TikTok has been working on a new feature that will allow users in the U.S. to share photos over...

Bill Ford, chairman and CEO of General Atlantic. Photo via Getty

General Atlantic’s IPO Drought Puts Pressure on Fundraising Drive

By Cory Weinberg · May 13, 2025 3:56pm PDT

Some of the tech leaders traveling to the Middle East this week might be able to get travel tips on the region from investors at General Atlantic. The New York–based growth equity investor opened offices in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi last year to make more investments in local startups after getting cash from the region’s vast oil coffers.A recent... Some of the tech leaders traveling to the Middle East this week might be able to get travel tips...

The Walking Dead Zombies attend an event for the final season of the show in Milan, Italy. Photo via Getty.

Creator Economy

Studio Behind 'The Walking Dead' Buys Creator Management Firm

By Kaya Yurieff · May 13, 2025 2:02pm PDT

A big theme I’ve been tracking this year is the growing convergence between Hollywood and the creator economy. In the latest example of that trend, Skybound Entertainment, the Los Angeles studio behind franchises including “The Walking Dead” and comic book and TV series “Invincible,” has acquired Nine Four Entertainment. The talent... A big theme I’ve been tracking this year is the growing convergence between Hollywood and the...

From left: Jennifer Salke, Adam Selipsky, Blake Chandlee and Sabrina Ellis. Photos via Getty, AP

Free Agents: Amazon, OpenAI, Google Execs Poised for Their Next Role

By The Information Staff · May 13, 2025 10:30am PDT

The nation’s biggest tech companies have reshuffled the ranks of their senior leaders in the last year. That means executives with decades of experience in enterprise software, digital ad sales and product development are newly or soon to be available for their next job. Below we have details on six leaders. They include Amazon Web Services’... The nation’s biggest tech companies have reshuffled the ranks of their senior leaders in the last...

Chandrasekaran screenshot via YouTube.

The AI Startup Using a Private Equity Growth Playbook

By Jon Victor · May 13, 2025 10:00am PDT

Chandrasekaran screenshot via YouTube.

The AI Startup Using a Private Equity Growth Playbook

By Jon Victor · May 13, 2025 10:00am PDT

As the cost of running artificial intelligence models falls, the land grab in customer support automation has reached a new level of intensity. Nearly every major enterprise software vendor now offers a product for automating customer support, according to our analysis, which also breaks down how the race to automate knowledge work has bred new... As the cost of running artificial intelligence models falls, the land grab in customer support...

Photo via Shutterstock

Google’s ‘Always-On’ Coding Agent Is Coming. Where Is OpenAI’s?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 13, 2025 7:00am PDT

AI coding assistants today have saved software engineers lots of time. The CEOs of Amazon, Google and many others can’t stop talking about it during their earnings calls.But even the most popular AI coding tools today often work side-by-side with human engineers and require a lot of prompting and hand-holding.That’s about to change.Google, for... AI coding assistants today have saved software engineers lots of time. The CEOs of Amazon, Google...

Tesla Model Y vehicles at a dealership in Austin. Photo by Getty

As Tesla’s Robotaxi Deadline Nears, Start of Key Testing Phase Is Uncertain

By Evan Robinson-Johnson · May 13, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Elon Musk’s deadline for launching Tesla’s first robotaxi service, in Austin, Texas, is weeks away, but the company hadn’t started testing its cars without a human safety driver as of last month, according to an engineer close to the testing and a former employee. That’s a crucial step required before Tesla can launch the pilot service for... Elon Musk’s deadline for launching Tesla’s first robotaxi service, in Austin, Texas, is weeks...

Orange Temu parcels at the United States Postal Service Los Angeles Processing and Distribution Center in Los Angeles in 2022. Photo via Getty

Temu’s Clouded Future

By Martin Peers · May 12, 2025 5:00pm PDT

You wouldn’t know it from checking out Temu’s website today—it’s as full of schlocky cheap items as ever—but the Chinese-owned shopping site is not what it was a few months ago. Thanks to changes made in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, it now lists all the items on the home page as coming from “local” warehouses rather than being... You wouldn’t know it from checking out Temu’s website today—it’s as full of schlocky cheap items...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage at last year's Google I/O developer conference. Photo by Getty

Google Developing Software AI Agent, Pinterest-Like Feature Ahead of I/O

By Erin Woo · May 12, 2025 2:43pm PDT

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage at last year's Google I/O developer conference. Photo by Getty

Google Developing Software AI Agent, Pinterest-Like Feature Ahead of I/O

By Erin Woo · May 12, 2025 2:43pm PDT

After weeks of news about Google’s antitrust travails, the tech giant will try to reset the narrative next week by highlighting advances it is making in artificial intelligence, cloud and Android technology at its annual I/O developer conference. Ahead of I/O, Google has been demonstrating to employees and outside developers an array of... After weeks of news about Google’s antitrust travails, the tech giant will try to reset the...

Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

Altman On Dyson Spheres, Colonizing the ‘Light Cone’

By Amir Efrati · May 12, 2025 11:04am PDT

By hiring Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to manage OpenAI’s business, CEO Sam Altman can focus on his primary ambition: attaining artificial superintelligence. The term refers to technology that would help humans solve fundamental scientific challenges around energy and physics to become multiplanetary, colonizing other planets and eventually other... By hiring Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to manage OpenAI’s business, CEO Sam Altman can focus on his...

An Amazon Web Services data center in Ashburn, Va. Photo via Getty

Cash-Hungry Data Centers Embrace a New Source of Debt

By Miles Kruppa · May 12, 2025 6:00am PDT

In the race to fund the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure, data centers have turned to one of the biggest pots of money on Wall Street: the securitized lending business. It’s a $2 trillion market that could help satisfy AI’s insatiable need for cash and that would spread the risk of the unprecedented boom in data centers across... In the race to fund the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure, data centers have...

Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory, run in partnership with Panasonic. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty

The Electric: Three Gigafactory Experts Weigh In on What the West Needs to Do

By Steve LeVine · May 12, 2025 4:30am PDT

In 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk contracted with Japan’s Panasonic to make batteries for his next electric vehicle, the Model 3, at a new plant outside Reno, Nev. It was a big get for a relatively unproven automaker: Panasonic had been making lithium-ion batteries for two decades and was one of the world’s top producers. In 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk contracted with Japan’s Panasonic to make batteries for his next...

Art by Shane Burke

OpenAI Stake Cushioned Tiger Global’s Megafund Losses

By Natasha Mascarenhas · May 11, 2025 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Shane Burke

OpenAI Stake Cushioned Tiger Global’s Megafund Losses

By Natasha Mascarenhas · May 11, 2025 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

The Tiger Global Management megafund that made more than 200 investments during the peak of the pandemic-era startup boom was still in the red at the end of 2024, thanks to write-downs on a majority of its investments. But the spike in valuations of OpenAI and other artificial intelligence investments is softening the blow for the $12.7... The Tiger Global Management megafund that made more than 200 investments during the peak of ...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why an AI Data Center on the Prairie Is Sitting Empty

By Anissa Gardizy · May 10, 2025 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

For a town with a population of just over 1,000, a Bible college and a quaint main street, there’s an unusual amount of bustle in Ellendale, N.D. A housing project with 20 homes is going up, along with a 38-unit apartment complex. Even a new pickleball court just opened. All of the developments are meant to support an anticipated influx of... For a town with a population of just over 1,000, a Bible college and a quaint main street, there’...

Art by Clark Miller. Gates image via Getty.

Bill Gates is the Smart Resistance

By Abram Brown · May 10, 2025 6:40am PDT · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Tech’s worries about privacy concerns are disappearing • The Top 5: The landscape designers who make Silicon Valley’s gardens bloom • Plus, our Recommendations: Life after “Conclave”; an original manosphere king; and crime up in the canyonsFor the wealthy and powerful who want to... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Tech’s worries about privacy concerns are...

Clark Miller

The Garden Designers Who Make Silicon Valley Beautiful

By Todd Plummer · May 10, 2025 6:00am PDT

Land is scarce in the Bay Area, which makes a well-designed outdoor space at a Marin cottage or Atherton manse a tremendous status symbol. The perfect allée of heritage olive trees or the right mise-en-scène of native grasses does more than elevate a property’s curb appeal—it telegraphs panache, access and a deep... Land is scarce in the Bay Area, which makes a well-designed outdoor space at a Marin cottage or...

Photo via Getty

Google’s Summer Wait For Search Shakeup Ruling

By Martin Peers · May 9, 2025 3:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Getty

Google’s Summer Wait For Search Shakeup Ruling

By Martin Peers · May 9, 2025 3:00pm PDT · 1 comment

This summer is likely to be a bit of a tense time at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The company is awaiting a judge’s ruling on what shackles to put on the company’s search business to curb its monopoly, which the court previously ruled was illegal. A three-week trial deciding on those shackles wrapped up on Friday in a Washington... This summer is likely to be a bit of a tense time at Google’s Mountain View, Calif.,...