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

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

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng. Photo via Getty.

DeepSeek Weighs Raising Outside Money For First Time

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Feb 19, 2025 6:00am PST · 2 comments

DeepSeek’s sudden rise to artificial intelligence stardom has created a dilemma for the Chinese startup: whether to raise money. A two-year-old offshoot of a Chinese quantitative hedge fund, DeepSeek so far has not raised outside funding, partly to avoid pressure from investors to commercialize its products too quickly. But since its AI chatbot... DeepSeek’s sudden rise to artificial intelligence stardom has created a dilemma for the Chinese...

Mira Murati. Photo via Getty.

Murati Joins Crowded AI Startup Sector

By Martin Peers · Feb 18, 2025 5:00pm PST

So much for the idea that the U.S. doesn’t have enough home-grown competitors in artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s former chief technology officer, Mira Murati, confirmed one of the AI world’s worst-kept secrets on Tuesday by revealing the name and team behind her new startup, Thinking Machines Lab. That news came a day after Bloomberg... So much for the idea that the U.S. doesn’t have enough home-grown competitors in artificial...

Photo via Field AI.

Nvidia-Backed Robotics Startup Field Targets $2 Billion Valuation

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Feb 18, 2025 4:23pm PST

Field AI, a two-year-old startup that makes artificial intelligence models to power robots, is in talks to raise several hundred million dollars at a $2 billion valuation, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fundraising discussions. That would quadruple the startup’s valuation last summer when investors including Nvidia valued it... Field AI, a two-year-old startup that makes artificial intelligence models to power robots, is in...

Ilya Sutskever. Photo via Getty.

Is VC’s Smart Money Losing Its Mind or Ahead of the Curve?

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 18, 2025 3:43pm PST

Ilya Sutskever. Photo via Getty.

Is VC’s Smart Money Losing Its Mind or Ahead of the Curve?

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 18, 2025 3:43pm PST

The question “What did Ilya see?” became an oft-repeated meme asking why OpenAI’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, cast a dramatic vote to oust Sam Altman in the short-lived ouster of the CEO 15 months ago. A significant fundraising that would value Sutskever’s new startup, Safe Superintelligence, at more than $30 billion turns that... The question “What did Ilya see?” became an oft-repeated meme asking why OpenAI’s chief...

How TikTok Is Faring One Month After Shutdown

Creator Economy

How TikTok Is Faring One Month After Shutdown

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 18, 2025 2:24pm PST

It’s been one month since TikTok briefly went offline in the U.S., and internal company comments and external data offer a picture of how the situation has impacted the short-form video app’s business. By some accounts, TikTok is doing pretty well. It’s been one month since TikTok briefly went offline in the U.S., and internal company comments...

Sam Altman at a press conference in Tokyo earlier this month. Photo via Getty

What OpenAI’s Sales Automation Software Can Do—and What It Can’t

By Jon Victor · Feb 18, 2025 10:00am PST · 2 comments

A clip recently surfaced on Reddit showing OpenAI executives demonstrating a new ChatGPT feature in Japan. The video showed how ChatGPT’s “deep research” mode, part of a $200-a-month Pro subscription, could automatically sort through sales leads and determine which ones are worth contacting. It determines that by searching the web for data like... A clip recently surfaced on Reddit showing OpenAI executives demonstrating a new ChatGPT feature...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Logistics Firm Forto, Last Valued at $2.1 Billion, Hires Moelis to Explore Sale

By Theo Wayt · Feb 18, 2025 9:31am PST

Even after a shakeout that’s lasted two years, consolidation is still coming for logistics startups. Forto, a Germany-based freight forwarding company that has raised more than $600 million from investors including SoftBank, has been working with investment bank Moelis & Co. to explore options including a potential merger or sale, according... Even after a shakeout that’s lasted two years, consolidation is still coming for logistics...

Photo via Getty

The Three Classes of AI Coding Assistants

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 18, 2025 7:10am PST

Photo via Getty

The Three Classes of AI Coding Assistants

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 18, 2025 7:10am PST

The model race continues. On Monday evening, Elon Musk’s xAI released a new family of large language models, Grok 3, which includes a baseline model, a smaller and faster version of the baseline model, and two “reasoning” models.Early reactions seem promising. Andrej Karpathy, one of the cofounders of OpenAI who left the company last year, said... The model race continues. On Monday evening, Elon Musk’s xAI released a new family of large...

Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind. Photo by Getty

Google’s AI Efforts Marred by Turf Disputes

By Erin Woo · Feb 18, 2025 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Google scored a rare hit with an artificial intelligence–powered product last fall: NotebookLM, which helps people summarize documents, even generating podcasts from its results. The podcast feature drew a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal. After the product’s release, CEO Sundar Pichai praised the “small, dedicated team... Google scored a rare hit with an artificial intelligence–powered product last fall: ...

Image via Getty.

Veteran Google Researcher Joins ByteDance as AI Rivalry Intensifies

By Juro Osawa and Jon Victor · Feb 17, 2025 10:07pm PST

A longtime Google researcher has joined TikTok owner ByteDance to help lead the Chinese company’s artificial intelligence research and development, in one of the Chinese tech giant’s most significant external hires of AI talent to date, according to two ByteDance employees with knowledge of the matter. Wu Yonghui, a 17-year Google veteran who... A longtime Google researcher has joined TikTok owner ByteDance to help lead the Chinese company’s...

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Image via Getty.

Spotify is Booming—Except For Its Ad Business

By Catherine Perloff · Feb 17, 2025 6:00am PST

Spotify is having a moment. The music-streaming pioneer recorded its first-ever annual profit in 2024, as a diversification into audiobooks and other new features brought in new subscribers and price hikes boosted revenues. So far this year, Spotify’s stock price has rocketed 43%, making it one of the best-performing tech stocks. But the surge... Spotify is having a moment. The music-streaming pioneer recorded its first-ever annual profit in...

Byd founder Wang Chuanfu. Photo: Getty

The Electric: Byd’s Driverless Aspirations Grasp a Big Thing—People Want Stuff That's Free

By Steve LeVine · Feb 17, 2025 4:30am PST · 5 comments

Byd founder Wang Chuanfu. Photo: Getty

The Electric: Byd’s Driverless Aspirations Grasp a Big Thing—People Want Stuff That's Free

By Steve LeVine · Feb 17, 2025 4:30am PST · 5 comments

In a call with analysts last month, General Motors CEO Mary Barra predicted a terrific flow of new revenue within five years—$2 billion a year in recurring fees from customers using its autonomous driving system, Super Cruise. In a call with analysts last month, General Motors CEO Mary Barra predicted a terrific flow of...

The NBA Meets Tech on Its Home Turf

The NBA Meets Tech on Its Home Turf

By Sara Germano · Feb 15, 2025 7:00am PST

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Nuclear power could help tech solve its AI-driven electricity problem, if new reactors can actually get built.• Venture Bets: There’s a vibe shift in nuclear startup investing.• Clean Energy: Fusion, geothermal, solar. It’s not all about nuclear fission.• Plus, our Recommendations,... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Nuclear power could help tech solve its...

Art by Clark Miller.

Regulator That Haunted Fintechs Falls Under Trump Ax

By Cory Weinberg and Michael Roddan · Feb 15, 2025 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Two big fintechs, banking app Chime and “buy now, pay later” firm Klarna, are getting ready to go public. While they were primping and polishing, they got a pleasant surprise from Washington this week: The Donald Trump administration effectively shut down the top consumer finance regulator. The shuttering of the Consumer Financial Protection... Two big fintechs, banking app Chime and “buy now, pay later” firm Klarna, are getting ready to go...

Ray-Ban's Meta Lab pop-up in Los Angeles in 2024. Photo via Getty.

Meta Hires for Retail and Robot Expansion

By Martin Peers · Feb 14, 2025 3:00pm PST

Meta Platforms might be laying off staff, but it’s proving to be something of a haven for recently unemployed senior executives. Bloomberg broke news today that the Facebook parent had hired a recently departed CEO of TheRealReal as a vice president of retail, and the former CEO of General Motors’ self-driving–car unit, Cruise, to oversee a new... Meta Platforms might be laying off staff, but it’s proving to be something of a haven for...

Elon’s $97B Curveball For OpenAI

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 14, 2025 2:19pm PST

Elon’s $97B Curveball For OpenAI

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 14, 2025 2:19pm PST

On More or Less: The gang discusses Elon’s latest curveball. Apple Spotify On More or Less: The gang discusses Elon’s latest curveball. Apple Spotify

Art by Clark Miller

Nuclear Investing, No Longer Radioactive

By Nick Wingfield · Feb 14, 2025 9:00am PST

Around the time Jigar Shah became director of the loan programs office at the U.S. Department of Energy, his venture capitalist friends gave him an earful about the idea of investing in nuclear power startups. “Like, 20 of my best friends in 2021 told me, ‘Jigar, we will never, ever in a million years invest in nuclear power,’” said Shah,... Around the time Jigar Shah became director of the loan programs office at the U.S....

Art by Clark Miller

From Fusion to Geothermal, Tech’s Clean Energy Bets Are Multiplying

By Nick Wingfield · Feb 14, 2025 9:00am PST · 1 comment

Nuclear isn’t the only source of carbon-free power that has energized the tech industry. For years, solar and wind have been mainstays for tech companies looking to reduce the greenhouse gases emitted by their data centers and other operations. The tech industry is also forming partnerships to build power plants that use new technologies to tap... Nuclear isn’t the only source of carbon-free power that has energized the tech industry. For...

Art by Clark Miller

Can Tech Get Nuclear Power to Move at AI Speeds?

By Nick Wingfield · Feb 14, 2025 9:00am PST · 2 comments

Over the past two years, the explosive growth of artificial intelligence has created a dilemma for tech behemoths: How can their data centers meet AI’s mind-boggling need for electricity without befouling the planet in the process? Amazon, for one, may have found an answer to that question 200 miles southeast of its headquarters, on a patch of... Over the past two years, the explosive growth of artificial intelligence has created a dilemma...

Pro Weekly: Megadeals Lead Fourth-Quarter AI Funding Surge

Pro Weekly: Megadeals Lead Fourth-Quarter AI Funding Surge

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 14, 2025 8:00am PST · 1 comment

Pro Weekly: Megadeals Lead Fourth-Quarter AI Funding Surge

Pro Weekly: Megadeals Lead Fourth-Quarter AI Funding Surge

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 14, 2025 8:00am PST · 1 comment

As public companies report their fourth-quarter financial results, we’ve been running the numbers on fourth-quarter venture funding for startups in our Generative AI Database. Two headlines emerged: It was the biggest quarter yet, and venture capitalists are bullish on artificial intelligence agents.Investors poured nearly $20.9 billion into AI... As public companies report their fourth-quarter financial results, we’ve been running the numbers...