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

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Recent Editions

Art by Clark Miller

Can AI Help a Tech CEO Cure His Spouse’s Brain Cancer?

By Amy Dockser Marcus · Apr 25, 2026 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

When Alicia Kalogeropoulos was first diagnosed in 2018 with brain cancer, she underwent surgery, and three years later, she enrolled in a clinical trial for a pill that worked to keep her disease in check for years. In February, Alicia and her husband Alex received grim news: Her tumor had returned. Her physicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering... When Alicia Kalogeropoulos was first diagnosed in 2018 with brain cancer, she underwent surgery,...

Photos of Elon Musk and Sam Altman via Getty Images; art by Mike Sullivan

Elon Musk’s Legal War With OpenAI’s Sam Altman Set for Showdown in Court

By Rocket Drew · Apr 24, 2026 12:54pm PDT · 1 comment

The artificial intelligence era’s biggest legal battle heads to a showdown next week, as Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are scheduled to face off in a federal courtroom in Oakland, Calif., over the future of the company that pioneered the AI boom. The trial in Musk’s lawsuit against Altman, OpenAI and its partner Microsoft starts with jury... The artificial intelligence era’s biggest legal battle heads to a showdown next week, as Elon...

Art: Clark Miller

Artificial Intelligence

Should AI and Christianity Mix? Pat Gelsinger and Gloo Holdings Sure Think So

By Jemima McEvoy · Apr 24, 2026 10:33am PDT

Last year, Pat Gelsinger found himself pondering a thorny, existential question: What should he do with his life after Intel? The chipmaker had unceremoniously ousted him in December 2024, and shortly after, his wife Linda gave him a firm nudge. “You’re not done yet,” she told him, as Gelsinger recalls it. So Gelsinger considered roles... Last year, Pat Gelsinger found himself pondering a thorny, existential question: What should he...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Tightens Grip on GPUs, Pressuring AI Customers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 24, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art via Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Tightens Grip on GPUs, Pressuring AI Customers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 24, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

AI startups are struggling to access Nvidia graphics processing units as Microsoft and other cloud providers divert GPU stockpiles to their internal teams or bigger cloud customers, leaving smaller firms scrambling for the remaining servers at higher prices. The supply crunch is impacting well-funded AI startups that have raised money from... AI startups are struggling to access Nvidia graphics processing units as Microsoft and other...

Michael Truell, CEO of Cursor. Photo by Big Event Media/Getty Images.

Behind Cursor’s Deal With SpaceX, Anthropic and Compute Costs Loomed Large

By Cory Weinberg, Julia Hornstein, Erin Woo and Katie Roof · Apr 23, 2026 7:41pm PDT

Weeks before Cursor agreed to a $60 billion potential takeover from SpaceX, the hot AI coding startup set out to raise billions of dollars. As its leaders made the rounds among tech’s largest investors, they started to hear an unfamiliar message: No, thanks. Many investment firms usually capable of writing the largest checks into startups,... Weeks before Cursor agreed to a $60 billion potential takeover from SpaceX, the hot AI coding...

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport, left, and Yevgeny Dibrov CEO of Armis. Photos by Getty Images

The Region Where Software M&A Is Hopping

By Valida Pau · Apr 23, 2026 5:12pm PDT

Elon Musk may be the busiest dealmaker right now. This Tuesday, his SpaceX rocket company said it had an option to buy coding startup Cursor for $60 billion. That would be the biggest venture-backed acquisition—other than SpaceX’s February purchase of his startup, xAI, for what Musk has said was a $250 billion valuation.Outside the Musk-verse,... Elon Musk may be the busiest dealmaker right now. This Tuesday, his SpaceX rocket company said it...

Tony Avelar/AP.

Big Tech's New Layoffs Phase is Underway

By Martin Peers · Apr 23, 2026 5:00pm PDT

We’re in a tech layoff era again—although a more accurate term may be an “employee replacement” phase. Meta Platforms told staff on Thursday it plans to lay off 10% of its staff, or about 8,000 people, next month. (The next few weeks won’t be fun at Meta!) The latest layoffs follow Meta’s cuts of about 2,000 people earlier this year and a spate... We’re in a tech layoff era again—although a more accurate term may be an “employee replacement”...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Crypto Hack Puts Big Lender in Turmoil

By Yueqi Yang · Apr 23, 2026 11:42am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

Crypto Hack Puts Big Lender in Turmoil

By Yueqi Yang · Apr 23, 2026 11:42am PDT

The latest in a series of crypto hacks has spread turmoil across the market, toppling the biggest lender in the industry, freezing billions of dollars in assets and causing big losses for highly leveraged traders. The hack, which involved $290 million of fraudulent tokens, began at a little-known startup but the impact quickly spread to Aave,... The latest in a series of crypto hacks has spread turmoil across the market, toppling the biggest...

Photo via Google.

Google Conference Shows Customers Want Help Making AI Work

By Erin Woo · Apr 23, 2026 10:32am PDT

Last year at Google Cloud's Next conference, executives touted the power of the company’s AI models for businesses. This year the theme is how to help companies use the models.And with good reason: In interviews at the conference, customers and Google Cloud resellers told me that companies racing to adopt AI are hitting roadblocks. Some are... Last year at Google Cloud's Next conference, executives touted the power of the company’s AI...

Art via Getty Images

New Security Breaches at Anthropic and OpenAI Proved Mark Zuckerberg Right

By Aaron Holmes and Rocket Drew · Apr 23, 2026 7:00am PDT

Hours after Anthropic said it was investigating a report that users had gained unauthorized access to its ballyhooed Mythos model, OpenAI accidentally made a slate of its own unreleased models available on its Codex app. The breaches are a reminder that Anthropic and OpenAI have plenty of their own cybersecurity issues even as they help... Hours after Anthropic said it was investigating a report that users had gained unauthorized...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Berkshire Hathaway, Chubb Win Approval to Drop AI Insurance Coverage

By Laura Bratton · Apr 23, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Major insurers including Berkshire Hathaway and Chubb are taking steps to cut AI-related damages from corporate insurance policies, and U.S. state regulators are giving them the green light. Insurers are trying to get ahead of risks from companies that use generative artificial intelligence to automate tasks, stoked by the fast pace of... Major insurers including Berkshire Hathaway and Chubb are taking steps to cut...

Elon Musk. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images.

Elon Musk Strikes Unusually Cautious Tone on Tesla Call

By Theo Wayt · Apr 22, 2026 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Elon Musk. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images.

Elon Musk Strikes Unusually Cautious Tone on Tesla Call

By Theo Wayt · Apr 22, 2026 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Tesla’s earnings calls are usually freewheeling affairs, with pulsating electronic music and wildly optimistic projections from CEO Elon Musk, who often likes to crack crude jokes and giggle. Today was different. Instead of the typical sci-fi rhapsodies about self-driving vehicles taking over the world and robots solving poverty, Musk spent much... Tesla’s earnings calls are usually freewheeling affairs, with pulsating electronic music and...

Art by Clark Miller.

How Tech M&A Is Filling AI Gaps

By The Information Staff · Apr 22, 2026 12:25pm PDT

AI upgrades are a hot spot in technology dealmaking. An analysis by The Information’s Deep Research shows tech companies are leaning on M&A to bolster industry-specific capabilities—and turn AI into products people can actually use. That pattern is playing out across deals of all sizes. SpaceX’s potential $60 billion acquisition of... AI upgrades are a hot spot in technology dealmaking. An analysis by The Information’s Deep...

Michael Intrator, co-founder and chief executive officer of CoreWeave Inc. Photo by Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images

The Information Finance

How CoreWeave Seduced the Bond Market

By Ken Brown · Apr 22, 2026 8:01am PDT

CoreWeave’s shares are up 55% this month, but that rally tells just part of the story about the AI cloud provider. The company has tapped a range of sources for much-needed capital, giving it a commanding role in the AI build-out. CoreWeave’s big fundraising haul—totaling nearly $16 billion—also signals that both stock and debt investors... CoreWeave’s shares are up 55% this month, but that rally tells just part of the story about the...

Art by Getty Images

Are OpenAI and Anthropic Moving Away From Reasoning Tech?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 22, 2026 7:05am PDT

Elon Musk rocked the business world again by announcing Tuesday that his rocket-satellite-social media firm SpaceX has signed a deal agreeing to buy AI coding app Cursor for $60 billion at an undisclosed later date or else SpaceX would pay a $10 billion breakup fee.It’s one of the biggest acquisitions of a venture backed startup ever, though it’... Elon Musk rocked the business world again by announcing Tuesday that his rocket-satellite-social...

OpenClaw Struggles to Grow Up After Overnight Success

By Juro Osawa and Rocket Drew · Apr 22, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Artificial Intelligence

OpenClaw Struggles to Grow Up After Overnight Success

By Juro Osawa and Rocket Drew · Apr 22, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenClaw, the AI agent software that took the tech world by storm, is reckoning with a difficult choice: whether to transition from an experimental hacker project to a sustainable tool companies can reliably use. One of the fastest-growing open-source software projects ever, OpenClaw is still managed by a group of volunteers who are trying to... OpenClaw, the AI agent software that took the tech world by storm, is reckoning with a difficult...

Art via Shutterstock

Tencent, Alibaba in Talks to Invest in DeepSeek at $20 Billion-Plus Valuation

By The Information Staff · Apr 22, 2026 4:17am PDT

Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in talks to invest in DeepSeek, the AI upstart that recently started fundraising for the first time, according to four people with knowledge of the conversations. DeepSeek, owned by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, is now seeking to raise funding at a valuation of more... Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in talks to invest in DeepSeek, the AI...

SpaceX's South Texas production facility. Photo by Reginald Mathalone/Getty Images.

What SpaceX’s Cursor Deal Says About xAI

By Martin Peers · Apr 21, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Elon Musk’s marketing pitch for the SpaceX IPO just got a bit more complicated. SpaceX’s revelation Tuesday afternoon that it was working closely with Cursor, the once-dominant coding firm, and might buy it for $60 billion, raises new questions about the health of xAI, Musk’s AI startup that SpaceX acquired for $250 billion in stock in early... Elon Musk’s marketing pitch for the SpaceX IPO just got a bit more complicated. SpaceX’s ...

Morgan Stanley's Michael Grimes, left, and Goldman Sachs' Kim Posnett. Images via Getty; YouTube

The Bankers Behind SpaceX’s “Project Apex” IPO

By Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · Apr 21, 2026 4:32pm PDT · 1 comment

The weeks leading up to SpaceX’s initial public offering will test big ideas about the space industry and the future of artificial intelligence. It will also answer a more basic question: how well Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs can work together.The Wall Street rivals’ top bankers have been holed up at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters... The weeks leading up to SpaceX’s initial public offering will test big ideas about the space...

Ethan Swope/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

SpaceX Debt Jumped to $23 Billion Last Year

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 21, 2026 11:50am PDT

Ethan Swope/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

SpaceX Debt Jumped to $23 Billion Last Year

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 21, 2026 11:50am PDT

SpaceX increased its debt load by nearly two-thirds last year, to about $23 billion at the end of 2025 from $14 billion the year prior. That surge illustrated how much its acquisition of xAI added new financial obligations to the company, according to a confidential initial public offering prospectus reviewed by The Information. Much of the debt... SpaceX increased its debt load by nearly two-thirds last year, to about $23 billion at the end of...