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

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Apple Can’t Beat Spotify

By Martin Peers · Mar 20, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

There are lots of reasons to be down on Apple nowadays. Its tentative steps into artificial intelligence have not gone well, leading to a high-profile executive shake-up today. Sales of its core product, the iPhone, are stagnant. The most recent attempt at a new product, the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, flopped. And as our Wayne Ma reported... There are lots of reasons to be down on Apple nowadays. Its tentative steps into artificial...

Photo via Insight Partners

Insight’s Wiz Win; CoreWeave’s Skeptics Speak Up

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 20, 2025 3:48pm PDT

Wiz’s $32 billion sale to Google is giving at least one venture capital megafund a case study for why it can pay to double and even triple down on top startups.Insight Partners, the VC and private equity giant that owns 8% of Wiz, wrote to limited partners Tuesday that the transaction turned a $213 million investment into $2.6 billion. Including... Wiz’s $32 billion sale to Google is giving at least one venture capital megafund a case study for...

CoreWeave Faces Reality Check on Bullish Growth Forecasts

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 20, 2025 3:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Last fall, artificial intelligence star CoreWeave shared astounding financial projections with private investors. It projected that revenue would quadruple to $8 billion in 2025 and cash burn would shrink by more than one-third to $4 billion, according to confidential investor documents. Those expectations appear a lot more sober now, as the... Last fall, artificial intelligence star CoreWeave shared astounding financial projections with...

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How Walmart Could Team Up With TikTok and Instagram

By Theo Wayt · Mar 20, 2025 2:33pm PDT

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Creator Economy

How Walmart Could Team Up With TikTok and Instagram

By Theo Wayt · Mar 20, 2025 2:33pm PDT

When people want to buy a product promoted by an influencer on Instagram or YouTube, the process can be clunky, often involving a maze of affiliate links or switching between multiple apps. Now, Walmart is working to make social shopping smoother by having more checkouts happen inside social apps themselves, the company’s chief technology... When people want to buy a product promoted by an influencer on Instagram or YouTube, the process...

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Why Walmart Isn’t Sleeping on Agents

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 20, 2025 10:00am PDT

Retailers have mixed feelings about web-browsing agents that can control a person’s browser to complete tasks for them.Some firms like DoorDash are concerned that an explosion of agents could overrun their sites with bots, lowering the value of their ads and creating distance between themselves and customers in the process. (That was the subject... Retailers have mixed feelings about web-browsing agents that can control a person’s browser to...

Art by Clark Miller (photos: Getty Images)

Inside the Nasty Feud Between Deel and Rippling That Became a Spy Drama

By Michael Roddan · Mar 20, 2025 9:44am PDT · 1 comment

Until this week, I didn’t know Keith O’Brien existed. The payroll compliance manager—and now accused corporate spy—was suddenly very interested in me. O’Brien’s curiosity was piqued last month when I was writing a story about a bitter feud between his company, Rippling, and its archrival, Deel. O’Brien allegedly searched for my name... Until this week, I didn’t know Keith O’Brien existed. The payroll compliance manager—and...

Subscriber Survey

Even Crypto Holders Don’t Like Trump’s Crypto Policies

By Akash Pasricha · Mar 20, 2025 9:00am PDT

The Trump administration’s policies to relax regulations around cryptocurrencies are unpopular with The Information readers, even among cryptocurrency owners, according to our latest survey. Readers also are more pessimistic about the outlook for the technology sector than at any time since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank two years ago. More... The Trump administration’s policies to relax regulations around cryptocurrencies are unpopular...

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Why Trump Is Good For Mistral and Cohere

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 20, 2025 7:00am PDT

Photo of Donald Trump by Getty

Why Trump Is Good For Mistral and Cohere

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 20, 2025 7:00am PDT

It’s been about two months since President Donald Trump took office, and there’s still lots of uncertainty around how he’ll regulate the AI industry. That’s particularly when it comes to open source and how much information leading developers must share with the feds.One thing is clear, though: the Trump presidency will be good for AI developers... It’s been about two months since President Donald Trump took office, and there’s still lots of...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple is Losing Over $1 Billion a Year on Streaming Service

By Wayne Ma · Mar 20, 2025 6:00am PDT

Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook had questions about several pricey movie deals executives of Apple TV+, the company’s video-streaming service, had been striking, including for “Argylle,” a spy action-comedy starring Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa. The movie, which cost $200 million to produce, hadn’t found much of an audience or generated more... Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook had questions about several pricey movie deals executives of Apple...

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Exclusive From The Electric: Tesla Plans to Soon Introduce Long-Awaited Battery Innovation in Cybertrucks

By Steve LeVine · Mar 20, 2025 5:33am PDT

In one of the most closely watched projects in the global battery industry, Tesla plans this year to introduce an innovation in its Cybertruck batteries that could sharply decrease battery manufacturing costs, a senior executive said Wednesday.Bonne Eggleston, senior director of the battery program, said Tesla would introduce dry cathodes later... In one of the most closely watched projects in the global battery industry, Tesla plans this year...

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Investors Are Overvaluing Musk’s X

By Martin Peers · Mar 19, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Wow. Elon Musk really is the Pied Piper of investors. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the social media firm had raised “close to $1 billion” in fresh equity at a $32 billion valuation. Including X’s debt, that implies a roughly $44 billion enterprise value for the company, which is what it was worth in Musk’s 2022 buyout of the company then... Wow. Elon Musk really is the Pied Piper of investors. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the...

Podcaster Chris Williamson speaks at a Spotify event at SXSW in Austin. Photo courtesy of Spotify

A Podcaster Develops AI to Search His Own Episodes

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 19, 2025 2:24pm PDT

Podcaster Chris Williamson speaks at a Spotify event at SXSW in Austin. Photo courtesy of Spotify

Creator Economy

A Podcaster Develops AI to Search His Own Episodes

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 19, 2025 2:24pm PDT

When I ask creators how they’re using AI, I typically get this response: They’re primarily using ChatGPT or other similar chatbots to talk through ideas or to help them write scripts for brand partnerships or videos. Chris Williamson, the host of the popular podcast Modern Wisdom, is going deeper. He’s hired a software engineer to develop ... When I ask creators how they’re using AI, I typically get this response: They’re primarily using...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI’s ‘Agents’ Pose Risks to DoorDash, Other Consumer Apps

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Mar 19, 2025 10:51am PDT · 6 comments

Before OpenAI in January launched Operator, its artificial intelligence that uses the web to plan trips, compile reports and shop online for people, it asked DoorDash to be an official “launch partner” for the new product. DoorDash agreed—but it had a question. In a meeting last fall between the companies, a DoorDash executive asked OpenAI... Before OpenAI in January launched Operator, its artificial intelligence that uses the web to plan...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Nvidia GTC. Photo by Getty

Top Developers Want Nvidia Blackwell Chips. Everyone Else, Not So Much

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 19, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Jensen Huang turned Nvidia into the third most valuable company in the world by designing chips that were way ahead of their time. But Huang’s remarks on Tuesday suggest he’s pulling far ahead of some customers, and the growing gap between what he’s selling and what they’re buying could spell trouble.In his keynote speech at the GTC developer... Jensen Huang turned Nvidia into the third most valuable company in the world by designing chips...

Google DeepMind’s Expanding Org

By Erin Woo · Mar 19, 2025 6:00am PDT

As Google attempts to catch up to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, its DeepMind artificial intelligence unit is in a near constant state of flux. Two years after Google merged its two AI units to form Google DeepMind, the unit’s chief, Demis Hassabis, has expanded his purview by adding numerous other teams. He has added oversight of Google’s Gemini chatbot,... As Google attempts to catch up to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, its DeepMind artificial intelligence unit is...

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photos via Getty

Why Google Wanted Wiz So Badly

By Aaron Holmes · Mar 18, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photos via Getty

Why Google Wanted Wiz So Badly

By Aaron Holmes · Mar 18, 2025 5:00pm PDT

If at first you don’t succeed, try offering more money. That’s the strategy Google employed to ink its $32 billion deal to acquire cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz, which the two companies announced today. The deal reemerged from the ashes this week after Wiz last summer rejected a $23 billion bid from Google, deciding that it preferred to remain... If at first you don’t succeed, try offering more money. That’s the strategy Google employed to...

Entrepreneur Reid Rasner. Photo via Reid Rasner for Wyoming.

Creator Economy

TikTok’s Newest Suitor Wants To Give Creators Monthly Payments

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 18, 2025 2:50pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s still murky, but the bidding process for TikTok is beginning to come into focus. Last week, my colleagues reported Oracle was the lead contender among a group of bidders. Today I have more details about one of them—Reid Rasner, a Wyoming entrepreneur, who last month said he was making a bid worth more than $47 billion for TikTok’s U.S.... It’s still murky, but the bidding process for TikTok is beginning to come into focus. Last week,...

Parker Conrad, founder and CEO of Rippling. Photo via Getty

Investors React to Rippling vs. Deel; Susa's $175 Million Seed Fund

By Sri Muppidi · Mar 18, 2025 1:44pm PDT · 1 comment

For Silicon Valley venture capitalists dealing with overpriced bets made during the low-interest rate period, Rippling and Deel have been bright spots. The San Francisco HR rivals passed new revenue milestones and minted higher valuations—great news for investors who poured a combined $2 billion into both startups. By some measures, Deel’s... For Silicon Valley venture capitalists dealing with overpriced bets made during the low-interest...

How ChatGPT Convinced Moderna to Merge its IT and HR Departments

How ChatGPT Convinced Moderna to Merge its IT and HR Departments

By Jon Victor · Mar 18, 2025 10:00am PDT

One of the most underappreciated applications of artificial intelligence in the corporate world involves its role in writing performance reviews.Take Moderna, the pharmaceutical giant. Late last year, Brice Challamel, its vice president of AI products and platforms, noticed a trend: ChatGPT usage by the pharmaceutical firm’s employees spiked... One of the most underappreciated applications of artificial intelligence in the corporate world...

Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty

Anthropic’s Not-So-Secret Weapon That’s Giving Agents a Boost

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 18, 2025 7:31am PDT

Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty

Anthropic’s Not-So-Secret Weapon That’s Giving Agents a Boost

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 18, 2025 7:31am PDT

Every few months, a new acronym takes hold among artificial intelligence researchers.The latest one gaining steam is MCP, or model context protocol, an open source software Anthropic released in November. It’s a software standard that, if widely adopted, would help large language models of any kind access external data sources and tools, such as... Every few months, a new acronym takes hold among artificial intelligence researchers.The latest...