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

Oracle coCEO Clay Magouyrk. Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Oracle Keeps a Lid on Capex as Customers Pay Up-Front

By Martin Peers · Sep 10, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Forget all that chatter about AI killing us all. We’re back to looking at what really matters—the revenue! Oracle demonstrated on Thursday that demand for AI computing capacity remains pretty darn robust. Larry Ellison’s software and cloud firm reported 30% top-line growth for the quarter ending Aug. 31, a tad better than the company projected... Forget all that chatter about AI killing us all. We’re back to looking at what really matters—the...

Volition Capital's Managing Partners. From left to right: Roger Hurwitz, Larry Cheng, Sean Cantwell. Photo courtesy of Volition.

Fund Focused on Bootstrapped Founders Raises $950 Million

By Julia Hornstein · Sep 10, 2026 4:26pm PDT · 1 comment

There’s certainly a frenzy among venture capitalists to back the hottest startups before they’ve made a dime of revenue, but one fund is sticking to a proven strategy of investing in startups that have generated at least millions in revenue—often without raising any institutional money.Focusing on these boot-strapped founders has again resonated... There’s certainly a frenzy among venture capitalists to back the hottest startups before they’ve...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images, YouTube

Personal AI App Instinct Faces Compute Crunch That Could Lead to New Funding

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Valida Pau · Sep 10, 2026 3:29pm PDT · 1 comment

The year-old startup behind Instinct, a personal AI assistant that’s caught fire with Silicon Valley insiders, is seeking more computing power, leveraging its early buzz as it faces new competition from giant Meta Platforms. Over the last few weeks, Instinct, which launched to a select group of users earlier this year, has sometimes notified... The year-old startup behind Instinct, a personal AI assistant that’s caught fire with Silicon...

Art: Clark Miller (photos: Getty Images, via YouTube)

Inside Blackstone’s Bid to Rule Over AI Financing

By Dakin Campbell · Sep 10, 2026 12:54pm PDT

Art: Clark Miller (photos: Getty Images, via YouTube)

Inside Blackstone’s Bid to Rule Over AI Financing

By Dakin Campbell · Sep 10, 2026 12:54pm PDT

In May, Blackstone unveiled a new joint venture with Google that revolved around a big number: The Wall Street giant was promising to spend $5 billion to buy 500 megawatts’ worth of Google’s tensor processing units, and it said it would use the chips in a new company that would deliver computing power to leading AI firms. Four months later,... In May, Blackstone unveiled a new joint venture with Google that revolved around a big number:...

Dylan Field, CEO of Figma. Photo by Michael Nagle/ Getty Images

Why Salesforce and Figma Are Placing Opposing Bets on the Future of Apps

By Laura Bratton · Sep 10, 2026 12:36pm PDT

Salesforce seems unafraid of a future in which people use an AI chatbot like Claude to access Salesforce enterprise apps and underlying databases to get work done, rather than visiting those apps themselves. Figma, an enterprise design app, naturally wants a different future.Dylan Field, Figma’s CEO, said Wednesday that as the company’s in-house... Salesforce seems unafraid of a future in which people use an AI chatbot like Claude to access...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Information Finance

Why AI Companies Are Building Out Wall Street-Style Finance Teams

By Meredith Mazzilli · Sep 10, 2026 9:10am PDT

The financing boom for the AI build-out is getting bigger and more complicated by the day—and AI companies have been staffing up for the challenge. AI labs including OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as neoclouds such as Nscale, are among a growing number of AI companies building out their capital markets teams and hiring specialists in areas... The financing boom for the AI build-out is getting bigger and more complicated by the day—and AI...

Partner Content

How to Use Google Gemini to Brainstorm Content and Thought Leadership

By The Information Partnerships · Sep 10, 2026 8:07am PDT

In almost any organization, there are practically infinite content ideas hiding in memos, emails, presentation decks, and meeting notes. But too often, this material mostly sits idle. Ideas that sparked excitement in the moment get ignored in favor of the countless little emergencies of office life, and eventually they are forgotten entirely. ... In almost any organization, there are practically infinite content ideas hiding in memos, emails,...

Art by Mike Sullivan

What Anthropic Doomsayer Jacob Coxon Saw

By Rocket Drew · Sep 10, 2026 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan

What Anthropic Doomsayer Jacob Coxon Saw

By Rocket Drew · Sep 10, 2026 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Yesterday, Amir and I examined the shock waves that have rippled through the AI industry and far beyond since former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon very publicly quit his job over concerns that AI “could kill us all”—and another Anthropic AI safety specialist put the probability of such a catastrophe at greater than 10%.Coxon told me that is... Yesterday, Amir and I examined the shock waves that have rippled through the AI industry and far...

Art by Mike Sullivan

SpaceX Overhauls Data Center Build-Out, Potentially Slowing Expansion

By Grace Kay · Sep 10, 2026 6:21am PDT · 4 comments

Elon Musk is famous for his “move fast” management philosophy, which he demonstrated most starkly when he built new data centers for his AI startup in record time two years ago. But a new team of rocket engineers Musk recently installed to run his data centers is taking a very different approach. SpaceX is changing how it builds the giant... Elon Musk is famous for his “move fast” management philosophy, which he demonstrated most starkly...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Anthropic’s IPO Marketing Meets Extinction Risk

By Martin Peers · Sep 9, 2026 5:01pm PDT

Are we sleepwalking our way into AI-caused extinction? It feels a little like that, given an Anthropic researcher’s X post on Tuesday night that there’s a greater than 10% chance that “AI could kill all humans” within the next decade! Despite that rather gruesome note, for tech executives posting on X today, it was business as usual. (See our... Are we sleepwalking our way into AI-caused extinction? It feels a little like that, given an...

Jeffrey Katzenberg. Photo by David Paul Morris/ Getty Images

Jeffrey Katzenberg Teams Up with Former OpenAI Sora Head on New AI Video Startup

By Cory Weinberg and Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 9, 2026 4:19pm PDT

Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is teaming up with the former head of OpenAI’s Sora app to launch a new AI startup that would train its own video models and try to win over filmmakers, people familiar with the matter said. The founders have been talking to potential investors including Andreessen Horowitz about raising significant funding for... Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is teaming up with the former head of OpenAI’s Sora app to...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei via Getty

Why An Anthropic Researcher’s Terminator-Style Warning Caught Fire

By Amir Efrati and Rocket Drew · Sep 9, 2026 3:53pm PDT · 1 comment

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei via Getty

Why An Anthropic Researcher’s Terminator-Style Warning Caught Fire

By Amir Efrati and Rocket Drew · Sep 9, 2026 3:53pm PDT · 1 comment

An Anthropic safety researcher’s warning Tuesday that his company believes AI “could kill all humans” within a decade has reverberated throughout Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Washington, potentially complicating the Claude maker’s upcoming initial public offering and its efforts to repair ties with U.S. political leaders. As the comment... An Anthropic safety researcher’s warning Tuesday that his company believes AI “could kill all...

Photo via Getty Images; art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Restricts Adobe and Other Competitors From Advertising in ChatGPT

By Alix Coutures and Amir Efrati · Sep 9, 2026 1:54pm PDT

OpenAI has told some business partners that it will no longer accept advertising in ChatGPT for image- and audio-generating products—which compete with its own features. The change, which hasn’t been previously reported or reflected in its published ads policy, blindsided existing advertisers such as Adobe, which sells such products. And... OpenAI has told some business partners that it will no longer accept advertising in ChatGPT for...

In Ford's Marshall, Mich. plant, which makes batteries using technology licensed from China's CATL. Photo: Courtesy Ford

Ford's Tense Exchange With a Trump Official Reflects Industry Efforts to Keep Making EVs

By Steve LeVine · Sep 9, 2026 12:22pm PDT

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China are escalating. Just look at Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s extraordinary tirade against Ford, which became public on Tuesday, when he called the company’s dealings with Chinese companies “unacceptable” and challenged its patriotism. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China are escalating. Just look at Transportation Secretary...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Getty Images.

OpenAI Math Result Stokes Data-Sharing Concerns

By Rocket Drew and Tiffany Li · Sep 9, 2026 7:00am PDT

In case you missed it: we got an eye-catching X post on Tuesday night from Evan Hubinger, a leader of Anthropic's alignment efforts. Responding to the resignation announcement of an Anthropic employee who warned that AI companies aren’t doing enough to ensure AI won't kill humanity, Hubinger wrote that the employee is “correct here—we really do... In case you missed it: we got an eye-catching X post on Tuesday night from Evan Hubinger, a...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Confusion Reigns Over White House’s AI Whitelist

By Leo Schwartz · Sep 9, 2026 6:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Confusion Reigns Over White House’s AI Whitelist

By Leo Schwartz · Sep 9, 2026 6:00am PDT

It may be one of the hottest tickets in corporate America right now: membership in the “trusted partner” program that allows companies to get access to the most advanced AI models before they’re released to the public. There’s just one problem: no one outside of the Trump administration has a clear idea how to get on that list. As laid out in... It may be one of the hottest tickets in corporate America right now: membership in the “trusted...

Photo by Zhang Haofu/Getty Images

China Curbs Humanoid IPOs After Unitree’s Volatile Debut

By Jing Yang and Qianer Liu · Sep 8, 2026 7:30pm PDT · 1 comment

Chinese regulators are tightening the approval for humanoid startups seeking to go public after a volatile debut by industry leader Unitree Robotics, as they aim to cool down a sizzling sector rife with copycats but little real technological breakthroughs. The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission recently gave its informal “window... Chinese regulators are tightening the approval for humanoid startups seeking to go public after a...

Zain Asgar, co-founder and CEO of Gimlet Labs. YouTube.

Gimlet's Three-Tranche Deal Reveals AI Funding Frenzy

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Phoebe Liu · Sep 8, 2026 5:37pm PDT

Gimlet Labs said late last week it had raised $300 million at a valuation of about $3 billion, in a round led by new investor Andreessen Horowitz. Today we have unreported details on how that round, which boosted its valuation by a whopping 16 times from its last PitchBook valuation, came together.The three-year-old startup, which helps AI... Gimlet Labs said late last week it had raised $300 million at a valuation of about $3 billion, in...

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar. Getty Images.

Why Price Cuts May Rattle Anthropic's IPO Pitch

By Martin Peers · Sep 8, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Anthropic’s IPO paperwork is expected to become public sometime soon. But it was OpenAI finance chief Sarah Friar who drew a standing-room-only crowd Tuesday at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel, as Goldman Sachs kicked off its annual Communacopia + Technology conference with a Q&A with Friar. In her talk, Friar made clear how important price has... Anthropic’s IPO paperwork is expected to become public sometime soon. But it was OpenAI finance...

Photo via Pollen Robotics.

Hugging Face Is Making A Big Robotics Push

By Laura Bratton and Rocket Drew · Sep 8, 2026 12:06pm PDT

Photo via Pollen Robotics.

Hugging Face Is Making A Big Robotics Push

By Laura Bratton and Rocket Drew · Sep 8, 2026 12:06pm PDT

Nvidia is paying a steep price for Hugging Face, a repository of open source models, primarily for its strategic position in the center of the open source AI world. But it turns out Nvidia is also getting a budding robot business that could help CEO Jensen Huang fulfill the promise of “physical AI.” Hugging Face late last month launched... Nvidia is paying a steep price for Hugging Face, a repository of open source models, primarily...