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

Edo Liberty, founder and CEO of Pinecone. Screenshot via TedAI San Francisco.

Top-Funded AI Database Startup Pinecone Considers a Sale

By Valida Pau, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 28, 2025 6:05pm PDT · 1 comment

When the artificial intelligence boom began a few years ago, investors flocked to startups that helped businesses transform and store proprietary data in a format AI could understand, known as a vector database. The technology allowed businesses to use a customized AI chatbot to search or analyze their customer and sales information. Since then,... When the artificial intelligence boom began a few years ago, investors flocked to startups that...

Photo via Getty

The Lessons of Google’s Ad Tech Business

By Martin Peers · Aug 28, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Every day this week, we and other close watchers of Google have been holding our breath, waiting for Judge Amit Mehta of the federal court in Washington to issue a ruling on how Google’s illegal search monopoly should be remedied. Options include a forced divestiture of its Chrome browser (where many Google searches originate), ending Google’s... Every day this week, we and other close watchers of Google have been holding our breath, waiting...

Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli. Photo via Getty

The New European Startup Darlings

By Katie Roof · Aug 28, 2025 3:36pm PDT · 4 comments

Hi, it’s Katie Roof, spending my first week at The Information schmoozing with Europe’s startup leaders at a conference called TechBBQ in Copenhagen. It’s been close to three years since I’ve been at a tech conference on the Continent, and the difference is palpable. In 2022, there was a panic in the air about a stock sell-off that eventually... Hi, it’s Katie Roof, spending my first week at The Information schmoozing with Europe’s startup...

Kaya Yurieff at The Information's Future of Influence event in June. Photo by Erin Beach

Thank You—And What’s Next for The Creator Economy

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 28, 2025 2:14pm PDT · 3 comments

Kaya Yurieff at The Information's Future of Influence event in June. Photo by Erin Beach

Creator Economy

Thank You—And What’s Next for The Creator Economy

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 28, 2025 2:14pm PDT · 3 comments

We are kicking off today’s newsletter with some news—this time about me. I’m wrapping up my time at The Information and this will be my last Creator Economy newsletter.It’s been such a privilege to write this newsletter, host five summits and break news about the creator economy and social media over the past four and a half years. I wanted to... We are kicking off today’s newsletter with some news—this time about me. I’m wrapping up my time...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Why OpenAI is Going After Healthcare

By Amir Efrati · Aug 28, 2025 10:30am PDT

It was easy to miss last week’s announcement that Ashley Alexander, a 12-year veteran of Facebook and Instagram, is becoming vice president of health products at OpenAI, with the goal of improving “healthcare outcomes and access.” Alexander’s LinkedIn post didn’t give clues about exactly what products she will oversee, but it’s not hard to see... It was easy to miss last week’s announcement that Ashley Alexander, a 12-year veteran of Facebook...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Meet the Google-Scraping Startup Used by ChatGPT, Cursor and Perplexity

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 28, 2025 7:00am PDT

Last week, we wrote about SerpApi, an Austin-based startup that scrapes Google Search results and offers that data through an application programming interface. Among its customers is OpenAI, which uses SerpApi’s services to ensure its ChatGPT can answer user queries with up-to-date information. (SerpApi CEO and founder Julien Khaleghy... Last week, we wrote about SerpApi, an Austin-based startup that scrapes Google Search results and...

Art by Mike Sullivan

How Google Is Preparing to Make Ad Tech Unit Independent

By Catherine Perloff · Aug 28, 2025 6:00am PDT

Less than a month from now, a federal court in Virginia will begin hearing an antitrust case that could determine whether Google has to spin off part of its advertising tech business into an independent company. But Google isn’t waiting for the decision to help that group become a more viable stand-alone business. Last month, for example, Google... Less than a month from now, a federal court in Virginia will begin hearing an antitrust case that...

Sila Nano's new silicon anode plant in Moses Lake, Wash. Photo: Courtesy Sila

The Electric: Silicon's Malaise Reflects an Auto Industry Ceding Momentum to China

By Steve LeVine · Aug 28, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

Sila Nano's new silicon anode plant in Moses Lake, Wash. Photo: Courtesy Sila

The Electric: Silicon's Malaise Reflects an Auto Industry Ceding Momentum to China

By Steve LeVine · Aug 28, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

In May 2022, two rival U.S. battery startups announced similar coups.Group14 Technologies, a developer of silicon anodes that promised greater driving range and faster charging in electric vehicles, said that within two years—in 2024—its product would be powering EVs made by Porsche. It was big news because, despite years of trying, no Western... In May 2022, two rival U.S. battery startups announced similar coups.Group14 Technologies, a...

Photo via Getty

Nvidia’s (Slightly) Slower Quarter; Musk’s Phone Ambitions

By Martin Peers · Aug 27, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Nvidia’s quarterly results, out Wednesday, have become the event of the earnings season. And who can be surprised? After all, here’s a company whose July revenue hit $46.7 billion, up 56% on a year earlier. Little more than two years ago, Nvidia’s quarterly revenue was around $7 billion! Of course, Wall Street traders have long ago lost their... Nvidia’s quarterly results, out Wednesday, have become the event of the earnings season. And who...

YouTuber Dhar Mann. Photo: Dhar Mann Studios

Creator Economy

The Dizzying Rise of Dhar Mann

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 27, 2025 2:18pm PDT

In early June, I pulled up to a giant lot in Burbank, Calif. about four miles down the road from Warner Brothers Studios, where “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory” were filmed. I was there to tour the set and offices where YouTuber Dhar Mann runs a growing entertainment empire.Mann, who leases the 125,000 square foot production studio, part of... In early June, I pulled up to a giant lot in Burbank, Calif. about four miles down the road from...

From left to right: Arm CEO Rene Haas, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photos via Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

SoftBank’s Heavy Spending on Chip Deals Eyed By Investors

By Cory Weinberg and Juro Osawa · Aug 27, 2025 1:02pm PDT

In May, a Nomura Securities equity analyst asked SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto a pointed question on an earnings call: How could he justify SoftBank’s recent $6.5 billion purchase, using borrowed money, of Ampere Computing, a failing developer of data center chips? The startup had just $16 million in revenue and had lost... In May, a Nomura Securities equity analyst asked SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto...

How the Talent War is Impacting the Race for AGI

By The Information Staff · Aug 27, 2025 11:55am PDT

How the Talent War is Impacting the Race for AGI

By The Information Staff · Aug 27, 2025 11:55am PDT

A central question looms over artificial intelligence: How is the intensifying the war for talent impacting the race for artificial general intelligence (AGI)? A central question looms over artificial intelligence: How is the intensifying the war for talent...

An IT Giant Cuts Half of Its Security Incident Response Team After Automating ‘Grunt Work’

Special Report Series

An IT Giant Cuts Half of Its Security Incident Response Team After Automating ‘Grunt Work’

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 27, 2025 10:00am PDT

Cybersecurity executives have long bemoaned how hard it is to hire staff, citing a dearth of talent with the necessary experience to fill roles that are notoriously high-pressure and can burn people out. But recently, some of those executives have found a solution: Instead of hiring new security professionals, they’re turning to AI to help... Cybersecurity executives have long bemoaned how hard it is to hire staff, citing a dearth of...

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. Photo via Getty

The Cult of Anthropic

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 27, 2025 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Out of all the model developers, Anthropic stands out as perhaps the one with the most ideologically devoted employee base, one that some researchers even describe as “cultish.” The reasons may include CEO Dario Amodei’s monthly ”Dario Vision Quests” where he talks to employees about the future of AI (with more than slight religious overtones)... Out of all the model developers, Anthropic stands out as perhaps the one with the most...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, left, and Vast Data CEO Renen Hallak. Photos via Getty

How Nvidia Anointed a Data Storage Startup as an AI Darling

By Kevin McLaughlin, Valida Pau and Anissa Gardizy · Aug 27, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Nvidia reshaped the cloud computing market by giving upstart cloud providers a lot of artificial intelligence chips. Now it is extending its influence into another cloud field: data storage. Nvidia has invested multiple times in Vast Data, which sells software to firms such as Elon Musk’s xAI and videoconference maker Zoom for storing data in a... Nvidia reshaped the cloud computing market by giving upstart cloud providers a lot of artificial...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Art by Clark Miller; image via Getty.

OpenAI Employee Stock Sale Could Rise to $8 billion

By Sri Muppidi · Aug 26, 2025 7:19pm PDT

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Art by Clark Miller; image via Getty.

OpenAI Employee Stock Sale Could Rise to $8 billion

By Sri Muppidi · Aug 26, 2025 7:19pm PDT

OpenAI’s plan to allow employees and former staff to sell $6 billion in private stock to investors was already slated to become one of the biggest such employee tenders in Silicon Valley history. Now, that sale could be even bigger. The ChatGPT maker will allow current and former employees to sell up to $8 billion at a valuation of... OpenAI’s plan to allow employees and former staff to sell $6 billion in private stock...

Tim Cook. Photo via Getty

Why Tim Cook Is Right to Avoid Big Acquisitions

By Martin Peers · Aug 26, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Apple shareholders should be glad Eddy Cue isn’t running the iPhone maker. As a story we published today revealed, Cue has been an advocate for Apple making big acquisitions—including of Netflix and Tesla in the past—that CEO Tim Cook rebuffed. More recently, Cue has suggested that Apple should do bolder deals in artificial intelligence. The... Apple shareholders should be glad Eddy Cue isn’t running the iPhone maker. As a story we...

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty

The Founder Perk Showing Up in More VC Deals

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 26, 2025 4:10pm PDT

You’ll sometimes find signs of the times buried in companies’ bland corporate charters. The latest example: A growing number of startups that raised venture capital this year have issued a type of stock designed to make it easier for founders to sell some of their stakes.Nearly 11% of companies that raised money in the first half of the year... You’ll sometimes find signs of the times buried in companies’ bland corporate charters. The...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

How Snap Can Turn on the Creator Spigot

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 26, 2025 1:12pm PDT

Where does Snap go from here? The nearly fourteen-year-old company is struggling to grow its ad business, particularly compared to larger Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube. At the same time, CEO Evan Spiegel remains laser focused on his long-time, big bet: the company’s augmented reality glasses, Spectacles. To keep funding the AR project,... Where does Snap go from here? The nearly fourteen-year-old company is struggling to grow its ad...

‘AI Native’ Apps’ $18.5 Billion Annualized Revenues Rebut MIT’s Skeptical Study

‘AI Native’ Apps’ $18.5 Billion Annualized Revenues Rebut MIT’s Skeptical Study

By Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2025 10:32am PDT · 11 comments

‘AI Native’ Apps’ $18.5 Billion Annualized Revenues Rebut MIT’s Skeptical Study

‘AI Native’ Apps’ $18.5 Billion Annualized Revenues Rebut MIT’s Skeptical Study

By Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2025 10:32am PDT · 11 comments

It’s been hard to avoid a study last week from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which claimed that 95% of corporate efforts to use artificial intelligence failed to boost the bottom line for the surveyed companies. In other words, “only 5% of custom enterprise AI tools reach production.” Let’s set aside the study’s limitations,... It’s been hard to avoid a study last week from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which...