The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica E. Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. 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

EY’s Dan Diasio at The Information’s AI Agenda Live. Photo by Erin Beach.

Businesses Still Don’t See AI Returns, Consulting Exec Says

By Laura Bratton and Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 24, 2026 12:02pm PDT · 1 comment

Here’s something worth paying attention to. According to consulting firm EY, businesses are still not seeing substantial revenue gains or cost reductions from using AI.“I haven‘t met any clients that say I wanna slow down my spend on AI. But I have seen a bunch of clients say, ‘I don’t know where my ROI is today,’” said EY executive Dan Diasio... Here’s something worth paying attention to. According to consulting firm EY, businesses are still...

TypeSafe CEO Diogo Almeida. Screenshot via YouTube/@LatentSpacePod

Jev Fervor Leads to Talk of Big Valuation Boost

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · Sep 24, 2026 11:42am PDT

Silicon Valley has a new AI startup to obsess over—and throw money at. We’re hearing that TypeSafe AI, the startup developing a new kind of model called Jev, has started to talk to investors about raising an enormous round—$1 billion or even more—and that some unnamed investors have offered to put money in at a valuation of $10 billion or more.... Silicon Valley has a new AI startup to obsess over—and throw money at. We’re hearing that...

Tether Holdings CEO Paolo Ardoino. Getty Images.

One of Tether’s Bank Partners Caught Up in Assets Seizure

By Yueqi Yang and Michael Roddan · Sep 24, 2026 10:52am PDT

On the surface, Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer in the world, might appear to be a formidable force in global finance. It owns more than $100 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, mostly held at Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment bank formerly led by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. But a U.S. government seizure of bank accounts held in... On the surface, Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer in the world, might appear to be a...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Are GPU Loans Safe From Rising Rates?

By Meredith Mazzilli · Sep 24, 2026 7:45am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Information Finance

Are GPU Loans Safe From Rising Rates?

By Meredith Mazzilli · Sep 24, 2026 7:45am PDT

The Federal Reserve’s recent rate hike, and rising expectations of another soon, put a fresh spotlight on financing arrangements for the wide array of companies borrowing money to pay for AI data centers and chips. Rates are rising just as investors have been growing more skeptical about AI-related debt in general, a potentially potent mix... The Federal Reserve’s recent rate hike, and rising expectations of another soon, put a fresh...

Stephanie Palazzolo and Alexander Embiricos, OpenAI's head of enterprise product.

What I Learned From AI Agenda Live

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 24, 2026 7:00am PDT

What a day! I loved meeting many of our amazing subscribers yesterday at our AI Agenda Live conference, where my colleagues and I interviewed leaders from companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Nvidia, Blackstone, Replit, Atlassian and more.Discussions at the conference touched on topics ranging from whether Google can catch up in the AI race... What a day! I loved meeting many of our amazing subscribers yesterday at our AI Agenda Live...

Photos via Getty Images; art by Mike Sullivan

Google, OpenAI and Anthropic AI Safety Group Takes Shape

By Leo Schwartz and Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 24, 2026 6:00am PDT

Google, OpenAI and Anthropic are pushing forward with a plan to create a new AI safety-focused standards body on their own, without government oversight, in hopes of launching it by the end of the year or early in 2027, according to people familiar with the matter. The three companies tentatively plan to name the self-regulatory organization the... Google, OpenAI and Anthropic are pushing forward with a plan to create a new AI safety-focused...

Photo by Matthias Balk/Getty Images

DeepSeek’s Annualized Revenue Hits $1 Billion as Startup Finalizes $7.5 Billion Fundraising

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Sep 23, 2026 11:20pm PDT

DeepSeek’s annualized revenue run rate has hit $1 billion, more than double the rate of a few months ago, buoyed by a recent price hike as well as continued popularity of its models, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The latest revenue figure, shared by CEO Liang Wenfeng in a recent meeting with investors, could boost... DeepSeek’s annualized revenue run rate has hit $1 billion, more than double the rate of a few...

Photos by Erin Beach for The Information

Open Source, Model Price Cuts Keep AI Costs Under Control

By The Information Staff · Sep 23, 2026 9:25pm PDT

Photos by Erin Beach for The Information

Open Source, Model Price Cuts Keep AI Costs Under Control

By The Information Staff · Sep 23, 2026 9:25pm PDT

Open-source models as well as cheaper model releases from Anthropic and OpenAI are helping business customers rein in costs while getting as much or more out of AI, said speakers at The Information’s AI Agenda Live conference in San Francisco Wednesday. “The existence of open source [models] adds pricing pressure on the labs, which is great,”... Open-source models as well as cheaper model releases from Anthropic and OpenAI are helping...

Photo by Erin Beach

Google Nears Release of Flagship Gemini 4 AI Model

By Laura Bratton · Sep 23, 2026 7:15pm PDT

Google is nearing the release of its newest flagship model, Gemini 4, the head of its DeepMind division said Wednesday, a long-awaited development after the tech giant fell behind rivals Anthropic and OpenAI in the AI model race. Speaking at The Information’s AI Agenda Live Summit, in his first media appearance as the new leader of Google... Google is nearing the release of its newest flagship model, Gemini 4, the head of its DeepMind...

Getty Images.

Amazon’s New AI Offer Reflects Discounting Surge

By Martin Peers · Sep 23, 2026 5:01pm PDT

Have we gone full circle on AI pricing? A bunch of tech firms are throwing around discounts and free offers for AI products, with Amazon on Wednesday announcing that merchants selling on its shopping site will get a year’s free use of its Quick Plus AI assistant product. Microsoft, meanwhile, is discounting Copilot AI subscriptions heavily, we ... Have we gone full circle on AI pricing? A bunch of tech firms are throwing around discounts and...

Cathode production at GM's Battery Cell Development Center. Photo: Courtesy GM

Exclusive: GM Is Pumping Out Cathodes And Moving to Bypass China's Battery Chokehold

By Steve LeVine · Sep 23, 2026 12:00pm PDT

In 2024, researchers working in a sprawling General Motors lab in Warren, Mich., prepared 18 variations of a new battery chemistry designed to reduce a battery’s cost, one of the biggest obstacles to greater U.S. consumer interest in electric vehicles. GM bosses believed that if they landed on the right formulation for this unusual battery,... In 2024, researchers working in a sprawling General Motors lab in Warren, Mich., prepared 18...

Art via Mike Sullivan

What To Expect at AI Agenda Live; Crusoe and Thinking Machines Labs Strike a Compute Deal

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 23, 2026 7:01am PDT

Art via Mike Sullivan

What To Expect at AI Agenda Live; Crusoe and Thinking Machines Labs Strike a Compute Deal

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 23, 2026 7:01am PDT

Happy AI Agenda Live day! For those joining us today at SFMOMA, I’m so excited to meet you all and talk about this exciting, if slightly contentious, moment in the AI industry.Our staff and attendees will ask top researchers, founders and executives from OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Nvidia some burning questions. Here are three at the top of my... Happy AI Agenda Live day! For those joining us today at SFMOMA, I’m so excited to meet you all...

Joey Krug, partner at Founders Fund. Photo by Joseph Nair/Getty Images

Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures Visit China as Country’s AI Prowess Rises

By Julia Hornstein, Jing Yang, Juro Osawa and Rocket Drew · Sep 23, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

U.S. venture capitalists have slashed investments in Chinese startups in recent years as relations between the two superpowers have soured. But behind the scenes, plenty are taking weekslong trips to meet with the country’s tech founders—a sign of the influence Chinese startups like DeepSeek wield in the hottest parts of tech. Last month,... U.S. venture capitalists have slashed investments in Chinese startups in recent years as...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Anthropic in Talks for 1-Gigawatt Data Center Lease With Apollo-Backed Developer

By Valida Pau and Amir Efrati · Sep 22, 2026 7:21pm PDT

Anthropic is in early talks to lease up to 1 gigawatt in compute capacity from a data center developer majority-owned by Apollo Global Management, part of a major effort by the AI company to reduce its reliance on cloud providers. The maker of Claude has discussed signing on as a direct tenant of sites developed by Stream Data Centers, a... Anthropic is in early talks to lease up to 1 gigawatt in compute capacity from a data center...

President Trump at the United Nations today. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

AI, the UN, Xi and Trump

By Martin Peers · Sep 22, 2026 5:01pm PDT

It’s a big week for global leaders talking about AI. We’ve got a bunch of presidents and prime ministers at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York—motorcades are creating chaos in Midtown Manhattan right now—and Chinese president Xi Jinping is due to arrive in Washington tomorrow. The top executives from most big tech firms will... It’s a big week for global leaders talking about AI. We’ve got a bunch of presidents and prime...

Barrick Gold's tailings dam in Cotui, Dominican Republic. Photo via Shutterstock

Barrick Gold Inks Five-Year AI Deal Before IPO

By Alix Coutures · Sep 22, 2026 4:28pm PDT

Barrick Gold's tailings dam in Cotui, Dominican Republic. Photo via Shutterstock

Barrick Gold Inks Five-Year AI Deal Before IPO

By Alix Coutures · Sep 22, 2026 4:28pm PDT

AI is top of mind for stock investors these days. That means even companies outside tech are beefing up their AI credentials ahead of new listings. In one such example, Barrick Gold’s North American unit has agreed to a five-year partnership with Avathon, a startup that develops AI-powered software to help industrial companies predict when... AI is top of mind for stock investors these days. That means even companies outside tech are...

Art by Shutterstock; Mike Sullivan

Wall Street’s GPU Futures Push Stalls at the CFTC

By Dakin Campbell · Sep 22, 2026 1:58pm PDT

The launch of futures for rental prices on Nvidia GPUs, which are seen as important to make AI compute an investable asset class, is hitting a snag. CME Group had hoped to launch contracts as soon as early October, but it won’t have regulatory approval by then. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the futures market, is... The launch of futures for rental prices on Nvidia GPUs, which are seen as important to make AI...

Art by Clark Miller

Introducing the AI Inflection Index: What 9,500 Articles Say About What’s Coming Next

By Eric Bellomo · Sep 22, 2026 11:41am PDT · 1 comment

The Information has launched a new data product for Pro subscribers that gives investors and operators quantifiable insight into the themes and trends shaping the AI era. The AI Inflection Index is built entirely on our original reporting. It maps the depth and breadth of our coverage on nearly 80 concepts from 9,519 documents published since... The Information has launched a new data product for Pro subscribers that gives investors and...

Art via Shutterstock; Mike Sullivan

New Data Show Anthropic, OpenAI and Other Upstarts Are Eating into Software Budgets

By Laura Bratton · Sep 22, 2026 10:38am PDT

We’ve been reporting for months about how companies are shifting some traditional software spending to Anthropic and OpenAI. New data from procurement software firm Zip provides further evidence.AI providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, and Sierra accounted for 8% of spending by Zip customers in the 12 months that ended in August, up from... We’ve been reporting for months about how companies are shifting some traditional software...

Art by Clark Miller

Why America’s AI Dream Is Failing to Launch

By Ryan Cunningham and Kristy Loke · Sep 22, 2026 10:33am PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Why America’s AI Dream Is Failing to Launch

By Ryan Cunningham and Kristy Loke · Sep 22, 2026 10:33am PDT · 2 comments

In 2022, American dominance in AI looked almost unassailable. The U.S. led in advanced models, semiconductors, capital and talent. Its closest competitor, China, appeared to be reeling from export controls that cut it off from the world’s most advanced process nodes, chips and memory technologies. Four years later, the tide seems to be turning.... In 2022, American dominance in AI looked almost unassailable. The U.S. led in advanced models,...