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

Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

ChatGPT Subscribers Nearly Tripled to 15.5 Million in 2024

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Jan 31, 2025 4:41pm PST · 8 comments

Paid subscribers to ChatGPT nearly tripled to 15.5 million last year from 5.8 million a year earlier, OpenAI recently told some shareholders, despite competition from chatbots made by Google, Anthropic and Meta Platforms. Based on what OpenAI charges for the chatbot subscriptions, the increase means ChatGPT was likely generating at least $4... Paid subscribers to ChatGPT nearly tripled to 15.5 million last year from 5.8 million a year...

Art by Clark Miller; Images via Getty.

The Zuckerberg-Musk Double Act

By Martin Peers · Jan 31, 2025 3:23pm PST

Is Mark Zuckerberg auditioning for the role of Elon Musk’s Mini-Me? We’re kidding, but it is uncanny how much Zuckerberg seems to be following Musk’s lead lately. In the latest example, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Meta Platforms is considering moving its legal incorporation to Texas, out of Delaware, just as Tesla did last... Is Mark Zuckerberg auditioning for the role of Elon Musk’s Mini-Me? We’re kidding, but it is...

China’s DeepSeek Shakes the Tech World

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 31, 2025 2:29pm PST

This week on More or Less: DeepSeek, memes and Dave quits social media. Apple Spotify This week on More or Less: DeepSeek, memes and Dave quits social media. Apple Spotify YouTube ...

Photo via Getty

Meta Taps Ad Agencies to Help Devise AI Ad Tools

By Catherine Perloff · Jan 31, 2025 1:25pm PST · 2 comments

Photo via Getty

Meta Taps Ad Agencies to Help Devise AI Ad Tools

By Catherine Perloff · Jan 31, 2025 1:25pm PST · 2 comments

As Meta Platforms sets about turning its massive investment in artificial intelligence into ways to make money, it’s asking ad agencies for help. Meta has been sending its engineers to work with ad agencies on developing AI tools designed to do everything from tweaking videos and static images in ads to evaluating the effectiveness of such... As Meta Platforms sets about turning its massive investment in artificial intelligence into ways...

Art by Clark Miller

With Google and Microsoft Moving In, a Battle Over Hallowed Ground Erupts

By Theo Wayt · Jan 31, 2025 9:14am PST

In 1862, from a hill in northern Virginia, troops under Confederate General Stonewall Jackson rained artillery fire upon a column of Union soldiers on a dirt road about a thousand feet away, in the opening shots of the Second Battle of Manassas. When I visited a farmhouse on the site on a frigid day earlier this month, I saw the signs of a... In 1862, from a hill in northern Virginia, troops under Confederate General Stonewall Jackson...

Left to right: Atomicwork's founders Kiran Darisi, Vijay Rayapati and Parsuram Vijay. Photo via Atomicwork.

Pro Weekly: Freshly Funded AI Founders Go Deep on DeepSeek

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 31, 2025 8:00am PST

China’s DeepSeek rocked the technology world this week with its innovative and cheaper large language model. The founders of companies we’ve newly added to our Generative AI Database tell me they’ve been studying DeepSeek’s approach and thinking about how it could help their businesses.Geraldo Ramos, co-founder and CEO of Music AI—which... China’s DeepSeek rocked the technology world this week with its innovative and cheaper large...

Art by Mike Sullivan

DeepSeek’s Success Contrasts With China AI Startups’ Struggles

By Juro Osawa · Jan 31, 2025 6:00am PST · 4 comments

DeepSeek has shaken up Silicon Valley and Wall Street with its stunning advances in artificial intelligence. But its technological success doesn’t mean China’s AI industry has figured out how to make money. The rise of DeepSeek contrasts with the struggles of other Chinese competitors, especially the best-known AI unicorns dubbed the... DeepSeek has shaken up Silicon Valley and Wall Street with its stunning advances in artificial...

An Apple Store in Shanghai decorated for Lunar New Year. Photo via Getty.

Apple’s China Syndrome

By Martin Peers · Jan 30, 2025 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

An Apple Store in Shanghai decorated for Lunar New Year. Photo via Getty.

Apple’s China Syndrome

By Martin Peers · Jan 30, 2025 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Apple had good news and bad news when it reported December-quarter results on Thursday. The bad news was that revenues from China—Apple’s second-biggest market—shrank 11%, almost certainly a result of Apple losing share in smartphones to local rivals such as Huawei. Indeed, iPhone revenues globally shrank 0.8% in the quarter. The good news... Apple had good news and bad news when it reported December-quarter results on Thursday. The bad...

Peter Deng at South by Southwest 2024. Photo via YouTube/SXSW.

A Former OpenAI Leader Jumps to Felicis; SoftBank Doubles Down

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 30, 2025 3:01pm PST

Hi - Before we get into today’s column, some breaking news: OpenAI is in talks to raise another giant round, of about $40 billion, led by SoftBank, which would value the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion including the investment—nearly double its valuation late last year in a Thrive Capital-led round. OpenAI will use some of the money to fund its... Hi - Before we get into today’s column, some breaking news: OpenAI is in talks to raise another...

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

Why Creator Funds Are Back

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 30, 2025 2:00pm PST

As TikTok’s future remains in turmoil, competitors are trying to take advantage of the situation. One way is bringing back a tried-and-true tactic from 2021: creator funds. This month, companies including creator commerce app Flip, which competes with TikTok Shop, and newsletter publisher Substack announced programs that offer cash... As TikTok’s future remains in turmoil, competitors are trying to take advantage of the situation....

Photo via Getty

Goldman Sachs Is Interested In DeepSeek Too

By Jon Victor · Jan 30, 2025 10:00am PST

How fast is DeepSeek open source artificial intelligence taking over the business world? Look no further than Meta Platforms, which is evaluating whether to use the Chinese-made AI in its advertising products despite spending the past two years developing its own Llama open-source models, my colleague Kalley reported Wednesday. Also this... How fast is DeepSeek open source artificial intelligence taking over the business world? Look no...

Art by Clark Miller

Can’t Compute It All? Introducing The Information’s Glossary of AI Jargon

By Rocket Drew · Jan 30, 2025 7:16am PST · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Artificial Intelligence

Can’t Compute It All? Introducing The Information’s Glossary of AI Jargon

By Rocket Drew · Jan 30, 2025 7:16am PST · 2 comments

The only thing coming at us faster these days than advances in artificial intelligence’s capabilities is the amount of industry jargon we’re all needing to decipher. Don’t know the difference between open weights and open source? Still trying to distill the meaning of AI distillation, the process DeepSeek may have used to... The only thing coming at us faster these days than advances in artificial intelligence’s...

Photo by AP

Why It’s Cheap and Easy to Mimic OpenAI’s Reasoning Model

By Rocket Drew · Jan 30, 2025 7:06am PST · 1 comment

The word of the moment in artificial intelligence is distillation. Distillation is the technical term for transferring knowledge from one large language model, which acts like a teacher, to another model that acts as a student. And it’s likely one of the key ways a Chinese quant fund replicated OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model and set the... The word of the moment in artificial intelligence is distillation. Distillation is the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

AI Power Demand Spurs Make-Your-Own-Electricity Effort for Data Centers

By Anissa Gardizy · Jan 30, 2025 6:00am PST · 1 comment

The power demands of artificial intelligence have already led the tech giants to scale back their climate goals. Now the intense battle to dominate AI has created a frenzy of dealmaking to secure enough electricity to power a major city. That’s created a clash between the fast-moving, lightly regulated tech industry and the nation’s... The power demands of artificial intelligence have already led the tech giants to scale back their...

Photo: Getty

The Electric: Musk Confirms His Mission Has Changed—Make Tesla a Lot More Valuable

By Steve LeVine · Jan 30, 2025 4:30am PST · 4 comments

In 19 minutes of remarks to analysts Wednesday evening, Tesla CEO Elon Musk enthused about his favorite topics—artificial intelligence-powered driverless cars and humanoid robots, which he predicted would make Tesla the most valuable company on Earth. In 19 minutes of remarks to analysts Wednesday evening, Tesla CEO Elon Musk enthused about his...

Photo by Getty

Meta and Microsoft Show AI Bets Still in Play

By Martin Peers · Jan 29, 2025 5:00pm PST

Photo by Getty

Meta and Microsoft Show AI Bets Still in Play

By Martin Peers · Jan 29, 2025 5:00pm PST

If we learned anything from tonight’s December-quarter earnings announcements from Microsoft and Meta Platforms, it’s that we’re still in a wait-and-see mode on artificial intelligence. In fact, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that 2025 would be a “big year” because the trajectory of most of the company’s big bets—such as on its AI assistant—... If we learned anything from tonight’s December-quarter earnings announcements from Microsoft and...

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

Zuckerberg Wants to Make Facebook Cool Again

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 29, 2025 3:51pm PST

Meta Platforms is still enthusiastic about creators. That much was clear from the Instagram parent’s earnings call on Wednesday.Chief financial officer Susan Li said “creators are one of our central focuses,” while CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he’s focused on growing Facebook’s cultural influence. He didn’t elaborate, but it seems likely that Meta... Meta Platforms is still enthusiastic about creators. That much was clear from the Instagram...

Snowflake CEO, Sridhar Ramaswamy. Photo by Getty

Snowflake in Talks to Acquire Analytics Startup Redpanda

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 29, 2025 2:38pm PST · 1 comment

Database provider Snowflake this week discussed an acquisition of Redpanda, a data analysis software startup valued at around $500 million in 2023, according to a person who has been part of the talks. An acquisition of the firm could upgrade Snowflake’s artificial intelligence services, an area where the company has lagged rivals such as... Database provider Snowflake this week discussed an acquisition of Redpanda, a data analysis...

Photo via Getty

OpenAI Tightens Grip on High End of App Market; Murati’s Startup Gets a Name

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Jan 29, 2025 7:00am PST

As questions swirl about whether super-cheap-yet-high-quality Chinese artificial intelligence threatens American-made AI, a new data point suggests OpenAI has some major advantages, relative to its compatriots.We reported Tuesday that OpenAI leaders recently made comments implying that ChatGPT Pro subscriptions—which cost $200 per month, or 10... As questions swirl about whether super-cheap-yet-high-quality Chinese artificial intelligence...

Why Seagate and Western Digital Are Sleeper AI Picks

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jan 29, 2025 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Why Seagate and Western Digital Are Sleeper AI Picks

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jan 29, 2025 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Seagate Technology and Western Digital Corp. may be best known for selling hard drives for personal computers, which means they’re likely not the first names that come to mind when one thinks of companies that will benefit from artificial intelligence investments. That mindset may be out of date. In recent years, Seagate and WDC have... Seagate Technology and Western Digital Corp. may be best known for selling hard drives for...