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

Art by Mike Sullivan

There’s a ‘Large Opportunity’ in China, Says VC firm Dimension

By Valida Pau · Aug 27, 2026 4:52pm PDT

China hasn’t held the same opportunities for U.S. venture capitalists it once did, given a crackdown by both countries on cross-border tech investments. But U.S. VCs are still hungry for insights into the country’s tech startups, whose fast growth holds clues to the future of U.S. AI companies. In one sign of their interest, a group of... China hasn’t held the same opportunities for U.S. venture capitalists it once did, given a...

Getty Images.

Bill Gates’ AI Warning and Nvidia’s Boffo Quarter

By Martin Peers · Aug 26, 2026 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment

You couldn’t miss the disconnect in the AI discussion among major tech figures on Wednesday. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned in a lengthy essay about the dangers posed by the technology, noting that he would support a global slowdown in AI advances if someone had a “credible plan” for doing so. Then Nvidia, the dominant seller of AI... You couldn’t miss the disconnect in the AI discussion among major tech figures on Wednesday....

Left: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Center: Demonstrators outside of Meta’s trial. Right: Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and team leaving the courthouse. Photos: Getty Images. Art: Shane Burke.

Meta’s Settlement Ends One Big Battle But the Wider Legal War Looms

By Jyoti Mann and Aaron Holmes · Aug 26, 2026 3:40pm PDT

Meta Platforms has fought one of its biggest court battles to an expensive draw. But lawyers scrutinizing Wednesday’s $18 billion settlement agreement with states said it won’t likely help the social media giant in its wider legal war over claims that its products harm underage users. The landmark agreement, pending approval by a judge, would... Meta Platforms has fought one of its biggest court battles to an expensive draw. But lawyers...

John Higgins, CuriosityStream’s Vice President of Content Partnerships. Photo via Businesswire

A Video Subscription Site Gets a New Life From Licensing Videos to AI

By Alix Coutures · Aug 25, 2026 7:00am PDT

John Higgins, CuriosityStream’s Vice President of Content Partnerships. Photo via Businesswire

A Video Subscription Site Gets a New Life From Licensing Videos to AI

By Alix Coutures · Aug 25, 2026 7:00am PDT

A streaming service called CuriosityStream, which offers documentaries on ancient Egypt, the Persian Gulf and other topics, was nearly delisted by the Nasdaq Stock Market three years ago. Squeezed by a post-pandemic glut of online streaming services, its revenue dove 27% in 2023 to a four-year-low. The service’s decision last fall to license... A streaming service called CuriosityStream, which offers documentaries on ancient Egypt, the...

Inside an Amazon fulfillment center. Photo by Michael Nagle/ Getty Images

Amazon Becomes Vital Sales Outlet For Independent Merchants

By Catherine Perloff · Aug 24, 2026 6:00am PDT

When Lauren Wang started Flex in Los Angeles a decade ago, she wanted to create a new type of menstrual care product that wasn’t already on the market—a disposable disc that lasts longer than traditional tampons or pads. Flex sold through its own website early on; it was one of a number of brands going the direct-to-consumer route at the... When Lauren Wang started Flex in Los Angeles a decade ago, she wanted to create a new type of...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia, Salesforce Are in Spotlight This Week

By Martin Peers · Aug 23, 2026 3:01pm PDT

Some of the hardest-working people in tech right now have to be the corporate communications folks at Nvidia, which is pretty much never out of the news. Aside from updates on its latest AI chips, Nvidia seems to be investing in almost every part of the AI sector, from data center developers to AI model makers to data-labeling providers. And... Some of the hardest-working people in tech right now have to be the corporate communications...

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming. VCG/Getty Images.

ByteDance’s Founder Rules Out Distillation on AI Models

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Aug 5, 2026 6:19am PDT

ByteDance won’t resort to distillation as a shortcut to advancing its AI model capabilities, even if that means the company lags behind domestic rivals for now, founder Zhang Yiming told employees during a meeting last month. One reason, say people close to the company, is ByteDance’s complicated history with the U.S. government over the... ByteDance won’t resort to distillation as a shortcut to advancing its AI model capabilities, even...

Art: Clark Miller

Why Andreessen Horowitz’s New Investor Left Apple

By Abram Brown · Jul 18, 2026 8:02am PDT

Art: Clark Miller

Why Andreessen Horowitz’s New Investor Left Apple

By Abram Brown · Jul 18, 2026 8:02am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Trump’s AI agenda collides with reality• Tech Culture: Welcome to the great private jet drought• Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “Gastronomics,” “Catch the Devil” and “The Invite”At the dawn of the AI boom, the technology sparked a real melee between newcomer startups... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Trump’s AI agenda collides with reality•...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Susquehanna, an Early Backer of ByteDance, Is Stepping Back From China Venture Deals

By Juro Osawa and Jing Yang · Jul 10, 2026 6:00am PDT

U.S. investment firm Susquehanna International Group, one of ByteDance’s biggest shareholders, is winding down its China-based venture investment team, another sign of the challenges facing U.S. venture investors operating in China. SIG China’s managing director, Tim Gong, who ran the team, is expected to leave the firm, according to four people... U.S. investment firm Susquehanna International Group, one of ByteDance’s biggest shareholders, is...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

XAI Bets on Grok’s Racy Side

By Grace Kay and Theo Wayt · Jun 24, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

SpaceX’s xAI is doubling down on video- and image-generating tools, people familiar with the project said. That’s seizing on an opening left by OpenAI and Anthropic, which offer fewer visual capabilities. XAI launched an upgraded video model last week, highlighting how it’s pushing ahead with its own visual efforts even as it brings in outside... SpaceX’s xAI is doubling down on video- and image-generating tools, people familiar with the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Amazon Gives Big Brands More Control Over Product Listings

By Ann Gehan · Jun 18, 2026 8:00am PDT

Amazon’s status as the home of independent merchants is eroding. The e-commerce giant has lately overhauled its shopping site to give big brands more control over how their products are displayed and sold. The company recently told them it would give them priority over independent merchants in deciding how their products are described on its... Amazon’s status as the home of independent merchants is eroding. The e-commerce giant has lately...

Roku founder and CEO, Anthony Wood. Brenton Ho/Variety via Getty Images.

Roku’s Timely Exit; Salesforce’s Dealmaking Is Revving Up

By Martin Peers · Jun 15, 2026 5:01pm PDT

Roku founder and CEO, Anthony Wood. Brenton Ho/Variety via Getty Images.

Roku’s Timely Exit; Salesforce’s Dealmaking Is Revving Up

By Martin Peers · Jun 15, 2026 5:01pm PDT

There’s a lot going on all of a sudden. We’re all still trying to come to grips with the latest Anthropic-Trump administration standoff. SpaceX’s market performance so far has been like a rocket ship: The stock rose 20% on Monday, finishing with a market capitalization of $2.5 trillion. And back on Earth, we got some notable acquisitions on... There’s a lot going on all of a sudden. We’re all still trying to come to grips with the latest...

Art: Clark Miller

Bootleg Reta is Silicon Valley’s Drug of the Summer

By Jemima McEvoy · Jun 12, 2026 9:01am PDT

For more than a decade, Dr. Molly Maloof has had a front-row seat to Silicon Valley’s ever-evolving health obsessions as a physician and founder of M3 Healthspan, a San Francisco–based concierge medical practice serving the tech elite. Lately, those conversations have focused on one substance perceived as a wonder drug among wonder drugs:... For more than a decade, Dr. Molly Maloof has had a front-row seat to Silicon Valley’s...

Art by Getty Images

China’s ByteDance Developing New AI Chips Like Those from Nvidia Partner Groq

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · May 29, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

TikTok owner ByteDance is developing a new chip to run artificial intelligence models as part of an aggressive expansion of its homegrown AI infrastructure. The new AI chip is intended to have a structure similar to U.S. chip designer Groq’s language processing units, which are built to run AI models at low cost, according to three people with... TikTok owner ByteDance is developing a new chip to run artificial intelligence models as part of...

Cerebras IPO Winners Include Foundation, Benchmark—and OpenAI

By Julia Hornstein, Katie Roof and Cory Weinberg · May 14, 2026 6:00am PDT

Over the last decade, there were times when Cerebras investors could be forgiven for losing hope. The company, which was attempting the difficult and expensive task of developing an alternative to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, didn’t deliver its first chips until five years into its existence. Then, after it filed to go public in 2024, the... Over the last decade, there were times when Cerebras investors could be forgiven for losing hope....

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta. Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Meta Is Building an AI Agent Called ‘Hatch’ and an AI Shopping Tool in Instagram

By Jyoti Mann · May 5, 2026 3:33pm PDT

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta. Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Meta Is Building an AI Agent Called ‘Hatch’ and an AI Shopping Tool in Instagram

By Jyoti Mann · May 5, 2026 3:33pm PDT

Meta Platforms is building a consumer version of the AI agent OpenClaw and a new agentic shopping tool, people familiar with the efforts said, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushes for products to deliver returns on the company’s huge artificial intelligence investments. Meta is training the OpenClaw-inspired agent, internally called “Hatch,” with the... Meta Platforms is building a consumer version of the AI agent OpenClaw and a new agentic shopping...

Art: Clark Miller (Photo: Getty Images)

Benson Boone, Tech’s Go-To Performer

By Erin Woo · Apr 25, 2026 8:20am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: The tech elite are using AI to supercharge their cancer battles • Artificial Intelligence: Should AI and Christianity mix? • Tech Culture: Amid AI backlash, billionaires demand new breed of bodyguard—plus, inside the star-studded Breakthrough Prize gala • Plus,... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: The tech elite are using AI to...

Art: Clark Miller (Photos: courtesy of the Breakthrough Prize)

The Night Hollywood and Silicon Valley Celebrated Together

By The Information Staff · Apr 25, 2026 8:13am PDT

In a festive merger, the glitterati and the technorati combined forces in Los Angeles a week ago for the annual Breakthrough Prize black-tie gala, which hands out million-dollar awards to the world’s leading scientists. In a festive merger, the glitterati and the technorati combined forces in Los Angeles a week...

Images from Reddit.

OpenAI Takes Aim at Google with New Image Model

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 20, 2026 7:00am PDT

If you’ve been on X or Reddit in recent weeks, you’ve likely seen images created by an upcoming model from OpenAI floating around. Sharp-eyed people have pointed out that the new model is potentially being tested with some ChatGPT users and on leaderboards under code names. The images generated by that model, which some are calling “... If you’ve been on X or Reddit in recent weeks, you’ve likely seen images created by an upcoming...

Anthropic co-founder and president, Daniela Amodei. Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Anthropic’s Revenue Growth Suggests OpenAI Is Overvalued

By Martin Peers · Apr 7, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Anthropic co-founder and president, Daniela Amodei. Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Anthropic’s Revenue Growth Suggests OpenAI Is Overvalued

By Martin Peers · Apr 7, 2026 5:00pm PDT

The sooner Anthropic and OpenAI go public, the better—at least then we’d have proper financial disclosure. Both companies’ habit of updating the public on their revenue growth by references to either monthly revenue or annualized revenue, which is (loosely speaking) the last month’s revenue multiplied by 12, is getting old. And it’s not exactly... The sooner Anthropic and OpenAI go public, the better—at least then we’d have proper financial...