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

Art by Mike Sullivan

Dashcam Maker Motive Touts AI but Relies on Humans

By Cory Weinberg and Michael Roddan · Jan 12, 2026 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Last summer, a manager at startup Motive Technologies sent an urgent Slack message to 400 employees based in Pakistan. “WE HAVE A PROBLEM,” it said in all caps. Motive sells AI-powered dashcams that allow trucking companies to monitor drivers and send alerts about crashes and other safety issues. In August, the dashcams recorded a string of... Last summer, a manager at startup Motive Technologies sent an urgent Slack message to 400...

StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf. Photo: Courtesy StoreDot

The Electric: This Battery Startup’s New Approach to Survival—Go Public

By Steve LeVine · Jan 12, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

For two years, Doron Myersdorf tried to raise upward of $50 million to keep StoreDot, his Israeli battery startup, on its feet until he could land some big expected contracts. Nothing worked. Now the CEO has decided on a different route to staying afloat: listing the company on the Nasdaq. For two years, Doron Myersdorf tried to raise upward of $50 million to keep StoreDot, his Israeli...

Getty Images

Google Matches OpenAI on Shopping

By Martin Peers · Jan 11, 2026 3:00pm PST · 1 comment

Sam Altman, look behind you. Sundar Pichai is catching up. Google on Sunday announced it was adding the ability to buy stuff within its Gemini AI chatbot, using Google Pay to complete the transaction, essentially matching OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature. This is a big deal, according to my colleague Ann Gehan, who was at the NRF retail... Sam Altman, look behind you. Sundar Pichai is catching up. Google on Sunday announced it was...

Robinhood Wins a Round in Battle With Coinbase

By Yueqi Yang · Jan 11, 2026 8:00am PST

Sunday Insights

Robinhood Wins a Round in Battle With Coinbase

By Yueqi Yang · Jan 11, 2026 8:00am PST

Robinhood and Coinbase are two of the most popular trading apps, historically concentrating on equities and crypto, respectively. But more and more, they’re competing head to head. Coinbase is launching stock trading, while Robinhood is expanding in crypto. Both are also betting big on prediction markets. Yet as far as stock performance goes,... Robinhood and Coinbase are two of the most popular trading apps, historically concentrating on...

Andrew Dai, co-founder of Elorian and former researcher at Google DeepMind. Photo via YouTube/Databricks.

Former Google, Apple Researchers Raising $50 Million for New Visual AI Startup

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 10, 2026 11:48am PST · 3 comments

Andrew Dai, a veteran AI researcher who recently left Google DeepMind after 14 years, is launching a new startup focused on AI models that understand and process text, images, video and audio simultaneously, Dai said. The new startup, Elorian, is in talks with investors to raise a seed round of around $50 million, said Dai and another person... Andrew Dai, a veteran AI researcher who recently left Google DeepMind after 14 years, is...

Incoming Walmart CEO John Furner (left) and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Art by Clark Miller

Shopping Change Agents

By Nick Wingfield · Jan 10, 2026 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Dubious biological age tests sweep Silicon Valley • Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “Forged,” “While Israel Slept” and “Fallout”If your holidays were anything like mine, you probably spent more than you expected to on presents. You may have had a couple glitches... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Dubious biological age tests sweep...

Art by Clark Miller

Why Silicon Valley Is Obsessed With Biological Age Tests, Despite Dubious Science

By Jemima McEvoy · Jan 9, 2026 10:11am PST · 5 comments

Venture capitalist Meltem Demirors isn’t above the occasional splurge on bags, jewelry and other material things. But she much prefers to use her disposable income for an expanding array of exotic wellness experiments, including injecting peptides and hiring a personal longevity coach. “The only dollars I spend that really have a noticeable... Venture capitalist Meltem Demirors isn’t above the occasional splurge on bags, jewelry and other...

Why Rivian Is a Better Bet Than Tesla Right Now

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jan 9, 2026 6:00am PST · 7 comments

Why Rivian Is a Better Bet Than Tesla Right Now

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jan 9, 2026 6:00am PST · 7 comments

As Elon Musk shifts Tesla away from its roots into robots and robotaxis, investors hunting for the next big electric vehicle play might want to consider Rivian, which is poised for a mainstream breakout just as Tesla was 10 years ago. Rivian’s sales are tiny—it sold just over 42,000 cars last year to Tesla’s 1.6 million. But the company... As Elon Musk shifts Tesla away from its roots into robots and robotaxis, investors hunting for...

Getty Images.

DeepSeek To Release Next Flagship AI Model With Strong Coding Ability

By The Information Staff · Jan 9, 2026 5:11am PST

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is expected to launch its next-generation AI model that features strong coding capabilities in the coming weeks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plan. The new model, V4, is a successor to the V3 model DeepSeek released in December 2024. Initial tests done by DeepSeek employees based on the company... Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is expected to launch its next-generation AI model that features...

David Ellison. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images.

Ellison Should Abandon WBD Battle

By Martin Peers · Jan 8, 2026 5:05pm PST

David Ellison just can’t get any respect. The son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison and CEO of Paramount Skydance is going nowhere in his efforts to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO Max, Warner Bros. Studio and a bunch of cable channels including CNN. Ellison has a very persuasive argument that his $30 a share offer—$108 billion in total—... David Ellison just can’t get any respect. The son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison and CEO of...

Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

The Numbers Behind Snowflake’s $1 Billion App-Monitoring Acquisition

By Kevin McLaughlin and Valida Pau · Jan 8, 2026 4:52pm PST

On Thursday Snowflake said it was buying app monitoring startup Observe, confirming our earlier scoop. The sale, which we had previously reported would be roughly $1 billion, provides a decent exit for early investors in the nine-year-old startup, such as Sutter Hill Ventures and Madrona Ventures, both of which also previously backed Snowflake... On Thursday Snowflake said it was buying app monitoring startup Observe, confirming our earlier...

Lambda Labs CEO Stephen Balaban. Screenshot via YouTube

Nvidia-Backed Cloud Provider Lambda in Talks to Raise $350 Million Ahead of IPO

By Cory Weinberg, Aaron Holmes, Valida Pau and Katie Roof · Jan 8, 2026 4:10pm PST

Lambda Labs CEO Stephen Balaban. Screenshot via YouTube

Nvidia-Backed Cloud Provider Lambda in Talks to Raise $350 Million Ahead of IPO

By Cory Weinberg, Aaron Holmes, Valida Pau and Katie Roof · Jan 8, 2026 4:10pm PST

Lambda, an upstart cloud provider that rents out Nvidia AI chips—and whose biggest customer was recently Nvidia itself—is trying to raise at least $350 million before a potential initial public offering this year, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Mubadala Capital, which manages money for the United Arab Emirates... Lambda, an upstart cloud provider that rents out Nvidia AI chips—and whose biggest customer...

Art: Shane Burke. Photos: Getty Images.

Strava Filed Confidentially for IPO, Hired Goldman Sachs

By Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · Jan 8, 2026 1:08pm PST · 1 comment

Strava, a fitness app popular with runners and cyclists, filed confidentially in recent weeks for an initial public offering and hired Goldman Sachs to run the listing, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The San Francisco–based firm, founded in 2009, has recently been meeting with prospective investors ahead of the... Strava, a fitness app popular with runners and cyclists, filed confidentially in recent weeks for...

Photo by Shutterstock.

How Amazon Is Pulling Ahead of OpenAI With AI Shopping Agents

By Ann Gehan and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 8, 2026 10:59am PST · 1 comment

It seems like these days, every big e-commerce and AI company is racing to figure out how to make AI agents that can shop just like a human. In the case of Amazon, the company’s version of AI-powered shopping is becoming widespread enough to step on other retailers’ toes—evidence that it’s pulling ahead in the nascent market.Earlier this week,... It seems like these days, every big e-commerce and AI company is racing to figure out how to make...

Google’s Chatbot Health Move Can’t Be Far Behind OpenAI’s

Google’s Chatbot Health Move Can’t Be Far Behind OpenAI’s

By Amir Efrati · Jan 8, 2026 7:00am PST · 1 comment

OpenAI’s official foray into health, unveiled in this post on Wednesday, has been a long time coming, as we explained last summer. In short, OpenAI is creating a special section of ChatGPT for customers to ask health-related questions and dump data from their personal health apps and wearable devices to get personalized advice. The features... OpenAI’s official foray into health, unveiled in this post on Wednesday, has been a long time...

Art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI’s Shopping Ambitions Hit Messy Data Reality

By Ann Gehan · Jan 8, 2026 6:00am PST

Art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI’s Shopping Ambitions Hit Messy Data Reality

By Ann Gehan · Jan 8, 2026 6:00am PST

OpenAI’s efforts to turn ChatGPT into a go-to personal shopper are off to a slow start. Challenges with wrangling product data mean in-app checkouts aren’t yet widely available to the millions of shops that OpenAI said in September would soon be coming to ChatGPT. OpenAI and its early partners, Shopify and Stripe, have been working on ways to... OpenAI’s efforts to turn ChatGPT into a go-to personal shopper are off to a slow start. ...

The Petropiar oil refinery in Venezuela's Anzoategui State, in which Chevron owns a 30% share. Photo: Diego Giudice/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: In Venezuela, Trump Doubles Down on a Bet Scorning the Emerging Electric Economy

By Steve LeVine · Jan 8, 2026 4:30am PST

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the U.S. has taken control of all of Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely.” For starters, the South American nation will hand over more than $2 billion in crude oil to the U.S., about 15% of its annual production, apparently in exchange for a friendlier attitude from President Donald Trump. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the U.S. has taken control of all of Venezuela’s oil sales “...

Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad. XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty.

Nvidia’s China Business Still Hostage to Geopolitics

By Martin Peers · Jan 7, 2026 5:00pm PST

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang must feel like a child whose parents are perpetually at war. Weeks after he glimpsed a chance to resume sales of AI chips to China—thanks to approval from President Donald Trump—China has said, “Not so fast.” As our Hong Kong reporter Qianer Liu scooped today, the Chinese government has asked local tech companies to... Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang must feel like a child whose parents are perpetually at war. Weeks after...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Aurelien Morissard/AP.

OpenAI Reserves $50 Billion for Stock Grant Pool

By Sri Muppidi · Jan 7, 2026 4:04pm PST · 3 comments

OpenAI last fall set aside an employee stock grant pool worth 10% of the company, which was valued in October at $500 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. The $50 billion pool of restricted stock units should last for roughly five years and should rise in value as the company’s private share price continues to increase.... OpenAI last fall set aside an employee stock grant pool worth 10% of the company, which was...

How Artificial Intelligence is Reshaping the Global Energy Market

By The Information Staff · Jan 7, 2026 1:25pm PST · 1 comment

How Artificial Intelligence is Reshaping the Global Energy Market

By The Information Staff · Jan 7, 2026 1:25pm PST · 1 comment

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is driving an unprecedented surge in electricity consumption, creating a conflict between immediate climate goals and the industry’s growth. While tech companies are currently increasing their reliance on fossil fuels to power new data centers, the urgent demand for energy is also accelerating... The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is driving an unprecedented surge in electricity...